Journey Home
by clp66
Summary: Susan and her family travel across country where they meet someone very important to them.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: This is the first story of the Susan Chronicles that falls outside of cannon. The show didn't continue, but there's no reason why Susan's story can't. There isn't a lot of House in this story because remember, House is with Wilson in the last months of his life. However; that being said, House is very central to this story._

_I hope you enjoy and if you would be so kind as to leave a review, I would be most appreciative._

_Clp66_

**Chapter 1**

Susan closed up the cardboard box and taped it shut, "Well, that's the last one in this room Billy," she said. "Let's head upstairs and see how Laura and Phillip are doing." She picked Billy up off of his blanket on the floor and carried him upstairs. She walked in Phillip's room to find him sitting on his bed staring at his dresser which was nowhere near empty. "Phillip, you understand that the movers will be here tomorrow morning to pack everything."

"Yeah," Phillip said with a sigh. "I don't want to move," he said.

"Well, you're not staying here by yourself," Susan said. "Your dad has a wonderful opportunity with this new position and we're moving. _We're_ includes you." She sat down on the bed next to him, "What are you afraid of?"

"I'm not afraid, I just don't want to go," Phillip said. "What about my friends?"

"Your friends will be fine. You can stay in contact with them and you'll make a bunch of new friends. It's not like it was when I was a kid. Dad was transferred around all over the country and even in a few other countries, and when I was a kid we could really only communicate by mail because it was expensive to call long distance. Now days you have all kinds of ways to keep in touch; email, texting, Facebook…."

"I know," Phillip said. "But I won't get to see them."

"Well, maybe we can work out something with their parents to visit or something. We're going to be living in the country so your friends might find it fun to come to the country."

"But why did he get a job out there? That place is boring."

"Now how would you know that?" Susan asked. "Have you ever been there?"

"No."

"Then how?"

"I just heard stuff," Phillip said.

"Well, I tell you what, why don't you make up your own mind once we get there," Susan offered. "I bet you'll find plenty to do." Billy gurgled and reached out toward Phillip and grabbed his hair.

"Ow!" Phillip said and reached up to pull his hair out from Billy's grip.

"Get your stuff packed Phillip," Susan said as she stood up. "We're staying in a hotel tonight and we'll be leaving early in the morning."

Walking across the hall to Laura's room, Susan found Laura finishing up her last box. She taped it shut and stood up and came toward Susan. She took Billy from Susan, "Hey bubby," she said bringing him to her and buzzing his cheek with a raspberry. Billy giggled and reached out to grab her hair, "Hey now!" Laura cried as Billy pulled her hair toward his mouth. Susan laughed and reached out to remove Laura's hair from his hand, then pulled it back and tied it in a quick pony tail.

"If it's in his reach, its fair game as far as he is concerned," Susan said laughing. "I'm glad I don't have to wear glasses anymore or they'd probably be bent all kinds of directions by now. Are you finished in here?"

"Yes," Laura answered.

"Why don't you go over and help your brother; he's hasn't made much progress."

"Sure," Laura said handing the baby back to Susan. "We'll get it done in no time." Laura left the room and went to Phillip's and Susan went back downstairs.

David walked into the house just as Susan made it downstairs, "How'd your last day go?"

"It was bittersweet," David said, "but it was good. Dan had his admin coordinate a lunch out for the entire department to say goodbye." David kissed Susan and took Billy from her arms, "How are you little man?" Billy smiled a big toothless grin at his dad and reached for his hair, but David was too quick for him and pushed his hand down, "No way little man, I need to keep all I have as long as I can," he said. "Is everybody packed?"

"Not quite," Susan said. "Phillip's a little behind, but Laura's gone in there to help him. He's still having issues with leaving."

"This is the only place he's ever been; it's a big step," David said. "I'll go up and talk to him," David said handing Billy back to Susan.

As soon as Billy was back in his mother's arms, he started rooting around for his next meal, "Hungry much?" Susan asked. She made her way through the boxes to the couch and sat down.

It wasn't long after she was settled and Billy eagerly working through his meal when Laura came downstairs and sat next to her mother. She watched as her mother nursed Billy, "Does that hurt?"

"In the beginning it does, but after a few weeks it calms down. It still stings a bit now when the milk drops, but not for very long," Susan explained.

"How long did you nurse me?" Laura asked.

"Until you grew teeth and bit me - about eight months. I'm going to try to stick it out for a full year with this one." Susan shifted and switched Billy to the other side and put herself back together with one hand on the other.

"I guess you have to get coordinated when you have a baby," Laura said.

"Well, you learn to do a lot of things with one hand," Susan said. "All new mothers should have three arms instead of two; it'd make things a lot easier."

"Yeah, but then you'd look weird," she said with a grin. Laura sat quietly as she watched William nurse. After a few moments she sighed, "I wish Uncle Greg was here to see him."

"Yeah, me too," Susan said wistfully.

"If he was still here, would you still move?" Laura asked.

"Of course Laura, I'm married to David and I go where he goes. It would be harder, but I would go and Greg would've expected me to."

"I really miss him," Laura said.

"So do I, sweetheart," Susan said reaching over and squeezing her hand. Billy finished eating, so Laura took him from his mother and started burping him while Susan put herself back together.

David and Phillip came downstairs together, "We're finished," David said.

"Well, then I guess it's time to head out," Susan said. The family walked out the door together. Susan put Billy in his seat in the back seat of her jeep and got into the passenger side while David got into the driver's seat. He backed out and took off with Laura and Phillip following behind in David's car. When they got to the hotel, Laura pulled in and parked next to her car that she and David had brought to the hotel earlier that morning. Laura and Phillip got out and then climbed in the back seat of the jeep on either side of Billy and David pulled back out. A few minutes later, David pulled into a restaurant. David, Susan and Phillip got out while Laura unfastened Billy from his seat and handed him to his mother.

Across the parking lot a man rolled down the passenger side of his window and took aim at the family with his camera. He took several photos as they walked in the restaurant then put the camera down and pulled out of the parking lot.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The hotel room was a one bedroom suite with a bedroom separate of a common area. Laura and Phillip were crashed out on a sleeper sofa in the front room while David and Susan were in the bedroom with the baby's portable crib positioned right next to Susan's side of the bed. It was 2:00am and Billy had woken up reminding his parents that it had been nearly four hours since his last meal and that was simply unacceptable. Susan rolled over and lifted him up out of his crib then propped herself up against the headboard. As she nursed, David rolled over to watch, "That's a sight I will never get tired of seeing," he said.

Susan smiled, "Sometimes you're such a girl."

"Hey now," David replied sitting up and shifting Susan to put his arm around her and allowing her to lean into his shoulder. "There's no call to be insulting." He reached over and smoothed the baby's hair and kissed Susan's head. "I'm simply admiring the view; there's nothing girly about that."

"You should be resting, not ogling," Susan said. "You have a long drive for the next couple of days. I can sleep some on the way."

"I'll rest later; I'm not done ogling," David teased.

When Billy was finished, David took him from Susan. He held his son to his chest patting his back, "Now that's a view I will never get tired of seeing," Susan said.

"Talk about me being a girl," David said.

"Well, I _am_ a girl, so it's OK," Susan replied. "But, unlike you I'm going back to sleep." Susan worked herself back down in a reclined position. "Don't forget to change him before you put him back to bed," she said after she closed her eyes.

"Yeah - leave me all the gross parts," David said.

Susan smiled, "Yep."

Susan's breathing evened out as sleep overtook her body. David held his son and watched his wife and wondered how he managed to be so lucky. He guessed he really had House to thank for all of this as he would never have met Susan if she hadn't come looking for her brother. David's thoughts trailed to those last few traumatic days of House's life. Susan had seen her brother die in the flames and she'd been so full of grief, but then suddenly her spirits had lifted. David at first thought she had just come to terms with her loss, but as time went he realized that Susan wasn't just dealing with her loss, she was actually denying it. David tried to convince her that she needed to see a psychiatrist, but she refused saying that she didn't need counseling. She wasn't denying her loss; there was no loss because Greg was still alive. He'd decided to drop the subject, but he continued to worry about her and then when the job offer dropped in his lap he jumped at the opportunity thinking that perhaps a change of venue would be best for his family. Phillip was still upset over the move, but Laura had taken it in stride. Of course, it really wasn't much of a change for her because in another month she would return to the university for her senior year. All this move meant to her was that she would have to fly home to visit instead of drive. David felt that it wouldn't take long for Phillip to come around. The house they were purchasing was actually located on a small hobby farm and was recently vacated by the widow of a former professor at the small university where he would be taking over as the Dean of Arts and Sciences. This entire move was going to be an adventure and Phillip would soon be exploring and discovering everything there was to discover on the property. He would make friends quickly and would soon be involved in a local baseball team. He looked over at the clock; it was 3:30. Susan was right; he really needed to get back to sleep. He looked down at his youngest who had fallen back asleep and then slipped out of bed to change him and put him back in his crib. Before he climbed back in bed, he looked out the door at his oldest kids. Phillip was sprawled out covering practically the entire sofa bed and had hogged all the covers. Laura was curled up in the corner obviously uncomfortable, but still asleep. He walked silently into the room and shifted his son over to one side and spread the cover over the both of them. He didn't realize his son was such a cover hog, he made a mental note to upgrade the next hotel room to one with three beds in it so the older kids wouldn't have to share. He walked back into the bedroom and climbed in. It wasn't long before he had joined the others in quiet slumber.

. . . . . . . . . . .

Laura's eyes opened wide from the punch Phillip had just given her between her shoulders, "Hey!" she whisper-hollered, "What was that for?"

"I wanted to see if you were awake," Phillip said.

"You could have just asked," Laura said. "You didn't have to punch me."

"I didn't punch you; I just pushed on you a little."

"You didn't push, you punched," Laura corrected. "What do you want?"

"Nothing, you just need to wake up," Phillip said.

"Why? Mom and your dad aren't awake; there isn't any reason to wake up."

"He's your dad too," Phillip said.

"Sorta," Laura said.

"Your mom is my mom," Phillip said.

"That's different," Laura said. "Mom adopted you, so she's your mom."

"How come dad didn't adopt you?" Phillip asked.

"Because I'm an adult already, you're not," Laura said. "I can take care of myself."

"I can take care of myself too," Phillip countered.

"Right," Laura said with some sarcasm to her voice. Laura sat up and put her legs over the bed to stand up. "I'm going to the bathroom. Stay out and stay quiet."

"Stay out and stay quiet," Phillip mocked. Laura glared at him and went into the bathroom. Phillip stood up on the sofa bed and jumped up and down.

"Phillip!" Susan said when she saw him as she walking out of the bedroom carrying Billy. "Stop that!" Phillip quit jumping and landed on his behind with his legs out in front of him, "What are you doing?"

"I was jumping on the bed," Phillip said.

Susan rolled her eyes, "_Why_ were you jumping on the bed?"

"I don't know," Phillip said. "It just seemed like fun."

"Well don't," Susan said. "It's not yours; you don't treat it with disrespect. Now get off of it, remove the sheets and put it back together."

"But Laura slept on it too, she should have to help," Phillip argued.

"Phillip! Come here!" David called out from the bedroom. Phillip stopped arguing and walked in the bedroom.

Laura exited the bathroom freshly showered and ready to go. She started putting the sofa back together, "No, don't," Susan said. Laura looked up at her with a question in her eyes. "Phillip will be putting the sofa back together. I need to you to take care of Billy for me while I shower and get dressed."

Laura took Billy from his mother and went over to the suitcase with his things in it and found an outfit for him to wear along with a fresh diaper and a box of wipes. It wasn't long before she was settled on the floor with him on top of a blanket and stripped naked. She started washing him from head to toe with the wipes which would have to do until he could have a real bath. Phillip walked back in the living room and saw Laura bathing Billy on the floor, "I hope he pees in your face," he said, obviously pouting.

"Phillip! Come here!" his dad called from the bedroom. Phillip turned around and went back in the bedroom for another lecture from his dad.

"Personally, I'm glad you've gotten over that," Laura said to Billy remembering when he was just a week old getting a urine shower as soon as she took off his diaper to change him. It didn't take her long to realize that you needed two diapers when you changed a newborn boy - one to change him into and one for your own protection while you were cleaning everything else. Fortunately at three months, that stage was behind him so two diapers were no longer a necessity.

Phillip re-emerged from the bedroom and without saying a word went back to the sofa to remove the sheets and put the sofa back together. When he finished he sat down with a flop, crossed his arms and didn't move.

…..

Susan allowed the hot water to stream down her face and relaxed in her moment of solitude. She didn't get many of these moments anymore, so she took advantage when she could have them. She had fed William before entering the common area and knew that David and Laura would see to his needs so she could relax for a few moments. She wasn't looking forward to the next few days traveling. Phillip had obviously shifted from being bummed out to acting out, so she expected life to be a bit out of kilter for a while. She knew he'd settle down once they got to where they were going, but the in-between time wasn't going to be a lot of fun. She finished her shower and got out to dress. She looked at herself, she was still a little pudgy, but she was starting to trim down. After they got settled in her new home, Susan would have to find a gym to start working out to re-tone her muscles. She didn't expect to play softball again having the baby to care for, and honestly it was getting difficult to keep up with the twenty and thirty-something's on the field at this point anyway. She'd have to settle for watching Phillip at his baseball games and helping William learn to play as he grew. She was so much older with William than she was with Laura; she hoped she would be able to keep up. By the time he graduated high school she would be in her mid-sixties. It wasn't something she really wanted to dwell on so she finished dressing and joined the others in the room.

When she came out of the bathroom she saw that Laura had Billy dressed and ready to go and had handed him to Phillip while she packed everything together. David came out of the bedroom ready to go, having showered the night before. He had the portable crib in one hand and their suitcase in the other. Everybody was ready and they had started out the door when Susan picked up Billy from Phillip and realized that everybody _wasn't_ ready, "Phillip, why aren't you dressed?" David and Laura turned around to look at Phillip who, sure enough, was still sitting in the corner of the couch in his pajamas.

"I'm not going," Phillip said sitting determinedly with his arms crossed.

Laura rolled her eyes, "Good grief," she said to herself, left the room and headed toward the elevator with hers and Phillip's suitcases in her hands.

David and Susan looked at each other and then back at Phillip who was still staring away from them, not willing to make eye contact. "Well son, if that's how you feel then," David said and walked out the door.

Susan took another moment to look at Phillip and then sighed, "Ok," she paused, "Goodbye son." She turned and walked out the door carrying Billy.

Down at the parking lot, Laura put the suitcases in David's car and when her parents emerged, she took the portable crib and the other suitcases and put them in the back of the jeep.

"You two go on ahead to the house," David said.

"Are you sure?" Susan said.

"Yes," David answered. Laura got in her car and Susan got in the jeep and the two left David in the parking lot.

David had just settled himself against the hood of his car to wait when Phillip came running out of the hotel in his pajamas as fast as he could barefooted, with tears running down his cheeks, "Don't leave me!" he was screaming at the top of his lungs as he tried to follow the cars out of the parking lot. He slowed down to a stop and stared as they drove past the stop light and out of sight.

"Are you ready to grow up and start acting your age," his dad's voice said from behind him. Phillip hadn't even noticed his dad sitting on the car as he ran past trying to catch the others driving out of the parking lot.

"You didn't leave," he said through the tears as he turned, obviously relieved.

"Of course not," David said. "Son, come here." Phillip walked over to his dad and climbed up to sit on the edge of the car. "I realize that change is hard, but life is full of changes and you have to learn to deal with it."

"But I don't want to go," Phillip said. "Why do we have to move?"

"We've already been through this, Phillip. I have a new job and it's a good one with a lot of opportunity. It's away from the big city and frankly it'll be good for mom to get away from here," David explained.

"What do you mean it'll be good for mom?"

"Mom doesn't enjoy being in the city, Phillip. She grew up moving all over everywhere and sometimes lived in some very cramped and crowded places. When her dad retired from the marines, they moved to the country and she spent the last years at home living on a farm and loved it. She'll feel more relaxed out there and without her brother here, _here_ isn't a good place for her.

"But she has us; that should make her happy," Phillip countered.

"She is happy Phillip, but she's not relaxed. I want her to relax and enjoy her life and not constantly reminded of what she's lost. This is a big step for me too Phillip, but I think it's best for our family. Mom will be more relaxed, I'll have a nice job and honestly Phillip, you really will enjoy yourself; you just have to give it a chance. If you don't like it, when you get out on your own you can move back to a big city. For now, we're moving and I'd really like you to try to deal with it like the young man I know you are and not the whiney little boy you've been acting like. Will you do that for me?"

Phillip wiped his hand across his face and nodded, "What about Grandma and Grandpa?"

"They're going to come too," David said. "When they get back from their trip across Europe, they'll move out there too. They've already started looking online for a place in the closest town to us."

Phillip took a deep shaky breath as he cleared out the last of his emotional trauma, "Can we go find mom and Laura now?"

"Get in the car," David answered.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Susan pulled in front of the house just as the movers arrived. Laura wasn't far behind. The women met the driver and unlocked the door for them to start loading the furniture and boxes. They stood in the front yard while the movers worked, "How much longer do you think David and Phillip will be?" Laura asked.

"Not long," Susan said. "I saw Phillip running out of the hotel in my rear view mirror as we pulled out of the parking lot. It was all I could do not to stop, but that would have not been as effective for David."

"Are you sure it will be?" Laura asked.

"Always is, well, nearly always," Susan answered.

"Well it was with me, but I was only six," Laura said.

"I think every parent has had to call that bluff in some form at one point or another with every child. It may seem cruel, but sometimes it's the only way to get their attention. When you pulled that stunt, I was right around the corner waiting for you to come out of the house which took all of about two seconds. If Phillip hadn't come racing out of the hotel at that moment, David would have given him a couple of minutes and then gone back inside to get him."

"How do you know when it's ok to call the bluff or when just to pick up the kid and go?" Laura asked.

"Every situation is different and every child is different, you just have to go with your gut. There is no manual that comes with a baby; it's all on the job training and what works with one child may not work with another," Susan explained. As if to emphasize the point, Billy reached out and grabbed Susan's nose and tried to pull it to his mouth. Susan let him pull her face towards his, but detoured at the last minute and landed a raspberry on his neck instead. Billy giggled in response. "You were pretty stubborn, but your dad was a disciplinarian, so you didn't act out that much - and you were a girl. I've no idea what this little guy has in store for me. I just hope I can guide him in the right direction."

"I wouldn't worry about it that much; you did fine with me and you're doing great with Phillip. And it's not like you're raising him alone. David is a good dad. He's not the disciplinarian that my dad was, but I've decided that's a good thing. Certainly he treats you a lot better than dad did." Susan looked over at Laura, "Don't look like that mom; I wasn't blind, no matter how hard you tried to hide it. I saw how dad treated you, but I didn't realize how bad it was until I saw the difference in how David treats you. I know that when I finally decide to pursue a relationship, I'm going to find a man like David, not a man like my dad. I loved dad very much, but even though he was good to me, he wasn't good to you."

Susan fought the tear that was trying to form in her eye, "I loved your father, but yes he was a hard man to please. I didn't realize you saw as much as you did."

"A strong power of observation runs in our family," Laura replied.

"So it does," Susan said, her thoughts moving toward that other family member also known for his keen powers of observation.

Both women turned around at the sound of a familiar vehicle coming down the street. David pulled in behind Laura and both he and Phillip got out of the car. Phillip went over to his mom and put his arms around her in a hug, "I'm sorry," he said into her neck. Billy, not happy with the sudden intrusion into his space with his mom, wailed out unhappily and grabbed Phillip's hair and pulled hard. "Ow! I _said_ I was sorry."

"William Gregory, that behavior will not be tolerated," David said with a smirk as he walked up. He removed Phillip's hair from his hand and took him from his mother. "No," he said more seriously while looking Billy directly in his eyes and then stepped away with Billy in his arms. Billy wailed out his displeasure loud enough that it drew the attention of the men loading the moving truck who glanced in that direction to see what the issue was, and then seeing nothing of concern turned their attention back to their work. David turned his body so that Billy couldn't see his mother which caused Billy to wail louder. He reached to pull his dad's hair, but David caught his hand and gently forced it down to his side, "No," he said. Billy started crying and David held him until he calmed down, "Shhh," he said patting his back. Finally Billy started settling down and laid his head down on David's shoulder. Soon he had his thumb in his mouth and had fallen asleep.

Phillip had long since released Susan and was watching his dad, "But he's just a baby, he didn't know what he was doing."

"He knew _exactly_ what he was doing. He didn't want you hugging mom and retaliated in the only way he knew how; same with me when I took him away. Just because he's a baby doesn't mean he doesn't need corrected for bad behavior," David explained, "It just has to be done differently."

"Do you want me to take him now?" Susan asked.

"Not yet," David said. He walked over to talk to the movers with Billy asleep in his arms.

"Phillip, get in the trunk of your dad's car and pull out some clothes to wear. You're not staying barefooted and in your pajamas all day," Susan said. Phillip moved to do what he was told when Bonnie Wilson arrived.

She got out of her car and came over to Susan, "Mrs. James," she said reaching out her hand. Susan returned her handshake. "I've had some interesting prospects on the house," she said. "I think we may have it sold before the month is over."

"That would be great," Susan said. "I'm not relishing having to make two mortgage payments."

"Well, you've priced it to sell, so that helps," Bonnie said. David came back over to where Susan was standing, "What a beautiful baby," Bonnie said. "Your grandson?" she said glancing over at Laura assuming the child was hers.

"No, he's mine and Susan's," David explained as he looked over at Susan who had a rather forlorn look on her face.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Bonnie said. "I just thought..."

"Don't worry about it," Susan said. "I'm sure that's the first of many similar first impressions we will get as he grows up." Susan stepped away for a minute.

"I'm really sorry," Bonnie said to David.

"It's okay," David said again.

Susan came back holding the house keys and handed them to Bonnie, "Here's the other set of keys."

"Well that's what I came for," she said. "I guess I should be getting along then."

She started toward her car when Susan asked, "Have you heard anything from Wilson?"

Bonnie shook her head. "His parents told me he was enjoying life while he could, but they wouldn't tell me anything else. If that bastard House was still alive, I'd bet anything that he was behind James' disappearance. He did the world a favor when he burned in that building."

David quickly stepped in before the shock of what she just heard turned to steam and Susan blew her top, "I tell you what, why don't you skip on out of here before you choke on that foot you keep sticking in your mouth."

"I don't understand," Bonnie said as David ushered her to her car.

"House was Susan's brother. Now please go."

Bonnie had a surprised look on her face, "I didn't know," she said as she got in her car, "I'm so sorry, I really didn't know." She started up her car and backed out to leave.

David walked back over to Susan, "Sweetheart?"

Susan was struggling to contain her emotions, but finally just calmly said, "Call her office manager and tell them we want a different realtor, give the commission to somebody else."

David nodded, "Okay." Billy woke up and lifted his head, "Hey little man," David said as he moved Billy to where they were looking at each other face to face, "I love you." David kissed him on the cheek and buzzed him for good measure getting a giggle in return. Billy looked around until his eyes landed on his mother. He reached his arms out and David handed him over to Susan, "Now you can go over to your mama."

Phillip came out of the house fully dressed and carrying his pajamas in his hands. As he put them in his dad's car, Laura spoke up, "Well, personally I've had enough drama for the day, can we please hit the road?"

"Absolutely," David said. "Let's get going." Susan put Billy in his car seat and got in the jeep. David and Phillip got in David's car and Laura went to hers. The convoy took off with David in the lead and Laura bringing up the rear.

At the end of the street, a dark car pulled out behind Laura and followed for several minutes before the driver made a phone call, "They're on their way," he said and hung up the phone before turning away from the family.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

An hour and a half later David and Laura were standing at the counter of a long term parking company near the airport making arrangements for Laura's car to remain there for the remainder of the summer break. "You want to keep it here for how long?" the attendant at the sales counter asked.

"Until August 18th," Laura said. "I'll fly in on that day and take my car the rest of the way to school."

The attendant put the information into the computer system, "Would you like us to detail it while it's here?"

"No, that's fine," Laura answered.

"We have a free airport shuttle service," she said as she handed Laura a business card. "Call that number when you arrive and we'll pick you up and bring you back here."

She finished entering the last of Laura's information into the computer system and assigned her car a parking place. Laura gave the attendant her keys to the car and David paid the fee. When Laura and David came back out, Susan had just finished feeding Billy and was putting him back in his car seat, "Ok, we're good for about four hours," she said when she finished getting him settled. "So, how do we want to do this?"

David looked over at Laura, "Do you want to drive or ride?"

"How about I start out driving so mom can rest for a little while?" Laura answered.

"Sounds good to me," David said and then he looked over at Phillip, "Do you want to ride with your brother or your sister?" Phillip decided to ride with Laura this time and with Billy next time, so Laura and Phillip got into David's car and David slipped into the driver's side of Susan's jeep. The family started out and soon was on the interstate headed west. Susan watched the terrain pass by as David drove, "You're awful quiet over there, are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she answered quietly. "I was just thinking that this is the second cross country trip I've made in this old jeep. We should probably start thinking about replacing it when we get to our new home."

"This does have a quite few miles on it," David said looking at odometer which had crossed 200,000 miles. "Do you want a car or another SUV like this one?"

"I like the convenience of the SUV. This is the smallest model Jeep has that isn't a wrangler and it's been a good vehicle. I've never had any issues with it," Susan said. "Jeff and I bought it when they first came out, so it's right at 10 years old now."

"Then it's definitely time for a new one. We'll look when we get out there," David said. "What else is on your mind?"

"Nothing," Susan said.

"Not nothing," David said. "Something is definitely on your mind."

Susan was quiet for a moment, "How's Billy?"

David glanced up at the mirror they had attached to the rear view mirror that was aimed at another mirror on the back seat that was facing the baby, "He's asleep," David said. "But that's not what you were thinking about."

"I don't want to get in an argument," Susan said.

"Ah, so you're thinking about Greg gallivanting around the countryside again," David said. "I don't understand where this comes from Susan. You saw the building blow up with him inside. You were devastated."

"Of course I was devastated, I thought he'd been killed," Susan said.

"I'm not saying that you shouldn't have been devastated," David said. "He was your brother."

"He _is_ my brother, not _was_," Susan maintained. "He got out of that building and he's with Wilson. Even Wilson's ex realized that Wilson disappearing had Greg written all over it."

"I still think you need to talk to someone about this," David said.

"I thought I was," Susan replied.

"You know what I mean."

"I'm not psychotic David," Susan said.

"I never said you were psychotic; I just think you're a little confused."

"I told you I didn't want to get in an argument," Susan said. "I know what I know and it won't be many months before you'll know too. I just wish you would trust me on this."

David didn't say anything more for a while. He looked in the rear view mirror and saw Laura following at a safe distance. He could see that she and Phillip were talking and wondered what they were talking about. He glanced over at Susan who had put her head back on the seat and had closed her eyes, though he could tell she wasn't asleep. He reached over and took her hand, "I love you Susan."

"I love you too," she replied keeping her eyes closed. "It'll be ok."

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

"So I wonder if they know what baseball is out there," Phillip said.

"Out where?" Laura asked.

"Where we are going," Phillip said.

Laura looked over at him out of the corner of her eye as she kept a safe distance behind David, "You are kidding, right?"

"No," Phillip said.

"Why wouldn't they know what baseball is?" Laura asked.

"Because, they're probably too busy hunting for food to be able to play games like baseball."

"Hunting for food?" Laura asked.

"Well, yeah, how else would they eat?" Phillip asked.

"By going to the grocery store and buying their food; same as anybody," Laura said.

"They actually have grocery stores?" Phillip asked.

"Where do you think we are moving to, the Amazonian jungle?" Laura asked.

"Indian Territory," Phillip said. After several moments he asked, "Do you think we'll see lots of Indians?"

"Well sure, there are quite a few Indians there, though they prefer to be called Native Americans" Laura said beginning to realize what Phillip was thinking and decided to play with him a bit.

"Do you think they speak English?" Phillip asked after a few more moments.

Laura smiled to herself; this was going to be fun. "Well, some of them do, but you'll probably have to learn some of the sign language."

"I bet they won't be happy about us being in their land."

"Well, your dad negotiated a treaty with the chief of the closest tribe and as long as we trade with them, they'll let us stay. You might have to give them your baseball glove," Laura added after a moment's thought.

"No way!" Phillip said.

"Yes, way," Laura replied seriously. "If you don't, you're liable to get scalped." She glanced over at Phillip, "They might anyway; they really like blond hair like yours."

"I'll wear a hat so they won't see it," Phillip said. "Which tribe?"

"Chickasaw," Laura replied honestly. Ahead, David was exiting off the interstate to a fuel station. She glanced down at the fuel gauge. She still had over a half tank, but she guessed David ascribed to the same rules her dad used to when on the road; never let the tank go below half when you're on a trip if you can keep from it. Either that or Billy was starting to make a fuss.

Laura pulled into the pump behind David who had just started to fill the fuel tank on the jeep. She got out to fill the fuel tank on the car, when David came over and swiped his credit card through the pump. Once the transaction was started, he nodded for Laura to continue. Susan unbuckled Billy from his seat and took him into the station to the women's bathroom. It wasn't long before the tank on the car was full, so Laura followed her mother inside. When she walked in, she was knocked back by the aroma, "Wow!" she said.

"Tell me about it," Susan said. "If we hadn't been this close to a station, we would have pulled off the side of the road to fix this little issue. He practically stunk us out of the car."

Laura laughed, "Better you two than us."

"So what have you guys been talking about?" Susan asked.

"Indians," Laura replied.

Susan glanced over at Laura as she started putting Billy's clothes back on, "Indians?"

"Phillip has a few misconceptions about where we are going to live."

"And you've done nothing to alleviate those misconceptions," Susan said looking at her daughter disapprovingly.

"Of course not," Laura said. "I might have helped them along a little."

"Laura," Susan said in a corrective tone.

"Well, if he's going to be that gullible, I may as well take advantage of it," Laura said. "Serves him right after the way he acted this morning."

"Do I dare ask what you've told him?"

"Well, he might think that he has to trade his baseball glove to the chief so that we can live there or he'll end up scalped," Laura admitted.

"Laura!" Susan said. After a moment she said, "I can't believe he fell for that."

Laura went on to explain how the conversation started and after a few moments Susan started smiling, "I remember when I was in high school; this lady came to teach math in our school and literally thought that she was going to be teaching in a one-room classroom. She brought a package of slates and chalk for each of her students to do their "sums" on since paper was such a scarcity out west."

"Seriously?" Laura asked.

"Absolutely," Susan explained, "we gave her such a hard time she ended up leaving the school and moved back to wherever it was she came from." Susan finished dressing Billy and handed him to Laura while she washed her hands. They walked out of the bathroom together and headed to their vehicles. "Just make sure he knows the truth before we get there."

"Yes ma'am," Laura said.

"We'll be stopping in the next town for something to eat," David hollered over to Laura as she started to get in the car.

"Okay," she replied.

David got in the jeep and started it up. He glanced over at Susan who was still smirking from her conversation with Laura in the bathroom, "What are you grinning about?" he asked. Susan told him about the conversation she'd had with Laura in the bathroom as he pulled back out on the interstate.

"Ooohhhh, now things are starting to make sense," David said as he started laughing.

"What's that?"

"Well, while you two were in the bathroom, Phillip went inside the service station and started looking at the hats. He was begging me to buy him one and I told him there was no way I was spending $25 on a $10 hat in the service station. If he wanted a hat that bad, he could buy his own when we get there. He argued that it would probably be too late by that time because he had blond hair and then stormed out of the service station and got in the car. I figured I would just deal with him later when we stop to eat to give him a chance to cool down," David said.

Susan started giggling which morphed into full laughter until her eyes started watering, "I know its mean, but this is really rather funny. No wonder he was so freaked out about moving."

"If he believes what Laura told him, he probably thinks we're not going to have running water or electricity either," David said.

"He did mention to me that he heard it was boring out there, but he didn't specify what was so boring," Susan said. "I wonder where he …..?"

"Jerrod," David and Susan said together.

"He should have learned his lesson by now," Susan said. "So, do we mess with him a little more or tell him the truth?"

"Definitely mess with him a little more," David said. "We'll have him straightened out before we get there."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

The family was seated in a discreet corner booth at the restaurant away from most of the patrons for privacy. While Susan didn't have issues with women nursing in a public place, she was by nature very modest and so preferred not to expose herself for all to see and was very careful around Phillip. Billy hadn't yet told her he was hungry, but she knew he would any moment. The family perused through the menu, with Phillip particularly taking his time to find what he wanted. He had just made his selection when the waitress arrived at the table, "What a beautiful baby," the waitress said. "You must be very proud of your daughter."

"Well, it's a boy, but yes I am. Thank you," Susan said.

"Well of course the baby's a boy, I was talking about your daughter," the lady replied.

Susan was confused but replied, "Yes I am very proud of her."

"I'm sure she'll be a wonderful mother," the waitress said.

"I'm sure she will when the day comes," Susan said realizing it was another case of mistaken assumptions.

Laura piped up at that point, "The baby isn't mine, its mom's."

"Oh, I see," the waitress replied with a knowing smile. "My cousin had an accident in her later years too."

"Billy is not an accident," Susan replied indignantly. "Not that it's any of your business. Are you here to take our orders or criticize our life choices?"

The waitress took their order and moved along to the next table.

"Technically, Billy was an accident," David said quietly. "We didn't plan for him."

"He's _not_ an accident. An accident is something you regret, something that you wouldn't do again if you had a chance to start over," Susan said. "William was a surprise; not an accident."

"Well, it looks like your _surprise_ is getting hungry," Laura said nodding to Billy who was rooting around for his next meal. Susan pulled out the baby blanket and made sure she was well covered before allowing Billy his meal.

In a few minutes the waitress was back with their dinner. She started distributing their plates around the table. When she placed Susan's plate in front of her, she noticed Susan was nursing under the baby blanket, "Well, that's just disgusting; nursing your baby at the dinner table."

"Well, since dinner tables are to eat at, there is nothing disgusting about it," Susan said.

"Well he's not allowed to eat at the table here."

"My son has just as much right to eat at the table as anybody; besides you can't see anything and we're seated away from everybody else," Susan said.

"It is the restaurant's policy for nursing mothers to adjourn to the restroom," the waitress said.

"I'm _not_ feeding my son in your bathroom," Susan said. "Would you want to eat your dinner while sitting on the toilet?"

"If you won't comply, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave," the waitress said.

"Okay, that's enough; I want to speak with your manager," David said getting up.

The waitress led David away to speak with the manager, "Go ahead and eat," Susan told Laura and Phillip.

David returned to the table about the same time Billy finished his dinner, "Well?"

"The manager will be taking care of us and our meal is free," David answered. "Apparently this lady is part of the previous management's crew, but she has to keep her on as a favor to a family friend. There is no policy that nursing mothers have to adjourn to the restroom."

"I think I'd keep her in the kitchen washing dishes," Susan said with some disdain, "and not out in public."

The manager came to the table and refilled their drinks, "I'm so sorry about the way Marilyn treated you," she said directing her comments to Susan. "She isn't exactly known for her tact, but unfortunately I'm stuck with her."

Susan nodded her understanding, "I've been stuck with poor employees myself; I understand your frustration." The manager stepped away from the table so Susan decided to play with Phillip a little, "It's a good thing our meal is free, the extra money will come in handy at the trading post."

"What trading post?" Phillip asked.

"We have to stop just outside the state to buy things for trading later," David explained.

"Like what?" Phillip asked.

"Beads, blankets, knives, things like that," Laura said picking up on the game.

"What will we get?" Phillip asked.

"What do you mean?" David asked.

"Well if we're trading, we should get something in return."

"Oh, well it's not like that," David said. "We're giving them things they need and in return we're going to be able to live there." David's phone beeped and he pulled it out of his pocket to look at it and then put it away.

"What was that?" Susan asked.

"I'll tell you later," David replied.

The manager came back to the table carrying chocolate cake for everybody and then stepped away again. Susan dipped her fork into the cake and took a bite. Billy reached for her fork, but Susan moved it out of his reach, "No little man, your cake comes later."

"Do you think we'll get things like cake again?"

"I didn't leave my memory for how to cook in Princeton," Susan said. "I'll still make cake, cookies and anything else we want. Who knows, maybe I can do some trading too."

"Oh good," Phillip said with relief.

Finally lunch was over, so the family got up to leave. David tried to pay for the meal anyway, but the manager refused and instead handed Susan a small bag, "Please take this and once again I'm really sorry." Susan took the package and thanked the manager for her hospitality.

When they got out to the cars, Susan said, "Phillip, why don't you ride in the jeep and entertain your brother for a while." David got in the car with Laura and Susan took over driving the jeep. In the back seat Phillip opened the package the restaurant manager had given them. In it were several baby toys and a pacifier. Phillip opened a package of baby keys and wiped it down with a wet wash cloth Susan had put in the diaper bag and then handed it to Billy. Billy grabbed the keys and rattled them around and giggled at the noise they made.

"Should we keep some of these toys for trading?" Phillip asked.

Susan decided the game had gone on long enough, "Phillip, when did you get to be so gullible?"

Phillip looked up away from Billy, "What?"

"Honestly Phillip, trading with the Indians so we can live on their land? Or having to wear a hat so they won't see your blond hair?" Susan glanced in the rear view and side mirrors to make a lane change. "I can't believe you would fall for that."

"You mean you guys have been teasing me?" Phillip asked suddenly embarrassed.

"You left yourself wide open for it; so don't be getting mad at anybody. It's your own fault. What I want to know is where you came up with the idea we were going to have to start hunting for our food or that the folks or there wouldn't know what baseball is?" Phillip mumbled something, "I didn't catch that, what did you say?"

"I said Jarrod told me," Phillip answered.

"That's what I thought," Susan said. "Phillip, I thought you learned last year not to take advice or listen to Jarrod." Phillip didn't say anything while he played a soft game of tug a war with Billy. "Don't worry Phillip, where we are going they have all the modern conveniences, including grocery stores and baseball teams. We're not moving to a third world country, just another state."

…..

"I wish I were a fly on the window," Laura said.

"I imagine your mother is setting him straight," David said. "We went through this with him not long after your mother and I got married. He was getting all kinds of misinformation from one of his friends about step mothers and it really impacted their relationship. In fact it was your uncle that brought it to my attention."

"Uncle Greg is really good about seeing things that others don't. His understanding of human behavior is really strong, but at the same time he doesn't really consider psychology a science," Laura said. "I really miss him, but he's doing what he needs to be doing right now."

"You talk like he's still alive," David said looking over at Laura in the passenger seat.

"Mom says he is," Laura said. "So, he is."

David shook his head and faced forward again, "Amazing."

"There's nothing _amazing_ about it," Laura said. "Mom's rarely wrong about anything; even dad knew that, though I'm not sure he ever let _her_ know."

"She _saw_ him die Laura - the same day that Billy was born and I think she can't accept that her brother died on the same day that her son was born because that would make his birthday too painful," David explained.

"Mom isn't irrational like that," Laura said. "I'm not saying she's perfect, heaven knows she has an overabundance of self-depreciation, also thanks to my dad, but she does keep a level head in stressful situations. If she says that Uncle Greg is alive, she has good reason to believe that. She's not being delusional," Laura explained. "You need to trust her in this. She _needs_ you to trust her in this."

"If you had just been there and saw the fire, you'd realize that nobody could have escaped that building. You're mom knew that at the time to the point that she became almost catatonic and then suddenly she was back to her normal self," David said.

"Then something happened to make her change her mind," Laura said. "If you can't believe her on her word, then you should ask her why she changed her mind."

David didn't say anything for a while, "I want to believe her, but I don't want to perpetuate her belief in something that can't possibly be real."

"Just ask her," Laura said.

"I will," David said.

The two were silent for a while, deep in their own thoughts. "You're a lot like your mother," David said.

"Well, that stands to reason, she raised me after all," Laura said grinning.

"Just as smart-mouthy too," David said returning the smile. The exit they needed was just up ahead and David hit his signal light and moved over into the right lane. As they exited the interstate to the hotel where they would eat and sleep for the night, he glanced over at Laura, "Thanks."

Laura nodded, "You're good for mom, David. Especially after everything that dad put her through; you are everything she needs in a partner. She needs your companionship and your love which she undoubtedly has, but she also needs your trust."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

"We don't have a suite with separate bedrooms or anything with three beds," the attendant said. "I have rooms with two queen size beds and rooms with one king size bed. I could put you in two separate rooms."

"That'll work," David said taking out his credit card. "Try to put the two rooms right next to each other if you can."

The attendant looked through what was available and found two adjacent rooms each with two queen size beds. She checked the family in and handed David the key cards. David went back outside where his family was waiting, "They're putting us in two separate rooms. It's the best they could do and allow Laura and Phillip to each have their own bed.

"I don't mind sharing," Phillip said.

"That's because you take all the covers," Laura said. "Besides, I don't want you punching me again."

"I didn't punch you, I just pushed you a little," Phillip said.

"No, you punched me and I have the bruise to prove it."

"Hey! Enough already," David said. "Get your stuff and come on." David handed Laura her key card and together they found their rooms. Laura opened the door and Phillip rushed inside and bounced on one of the beds as he landed.

Susan poked her head inside, "Under no circumstances are you to jump on that bed or otherwise abuse any of the furniture in that room. If you can't comply, you can stay in our room instead."

David and Susan went over to the next room and went inside. Susan laid Billy down on one of the beds and proceeded to change him, but before she got very far along she changed gears, "Are you taking a shower tonight or in the morning?"

"I was getting ready to take one now," David said.

"Why don't you wash him while you're in there and I'll come get him when you're finished with him," Susan said. David agreed and picked up the baby and took him in the bathroom with him. It wasn't long before Susan heard the shower going. She had a few minutes so she lay back on the bed and closed her eyes. It was nice to stretch out after such a long day of driving. Her thoughts drifted to Greg as she wondered where he was and what he was doing. It had been 3 ½ months since the fire, and if Wilson's cancer was following the predicted course, he had about a month and a half left. Susan hoped he wasn't in a great deal of pain and that he was still enjoying life. He was so young compared to most of his patients and he had helped so many people in his life. He had been able to save most of his patients, it just didn't seem right that he would be one of those that couldn't be saved. Susan was glad she had gotten to know him. He'd been a great boss and a good friend. Susan's muse was interrupted when David called out that Billy was ready. Susan got up and went into the bathroom to retrieve her son. Once in the main room, Susan lay Billy down on the second bed and worked to dry him off and put a fresh diaper in place. While she was working she felt a warm naked presence come up behind her. She stood up and that presence kissed her neck and rubbed his hands down her body finding the end of her night shirt and reaching underneath, "Guess what?"

"What's that?" Susan said as she leaned back into him.

"I'm clear," David said seductively.

"Oh really," Susan answered. "Is that what that text was about?"

"Ummhmm," David said as he continued to kiss down her neck.

"Let me move him to a safer position," Susan said before things progressed too far.

"Why don't you just let him sleep right there?" David asked.

"Well, apparently you haven't seen his new trick." Susan picked up Billy and put him on his tummy. Billy rose up on his hands and kicked his feet. He dropped one arm down and flipped over onto his back. "He hasn't quite made it the other way yet, but he's not far off."

"Well then, sleeping on the bed is out of the question," David said. He swept Billy up off the bed which Billy found quite enjoyable and blew a raspberry on his cheek eliciting a laugh. "Little man, it's time for you to go to bed," he shifted to a whisper, "because Daddy's got _big_ plans for mama tonight." David put Billy down in his crib and put his pacifier in his mouth, then handed him his new baby keys. He turned out the lamp and walked back over to Susan, "Now where were we?"

….

"I'm hungry," Phillip said.

"You just ate," Laura answered.

"I'm still hungry," Phillip said. He got up and rummaged through his jeans. He pulled out a couple of quarters, "I only have 50 cents; do you have any money?"

"What are you going to get?"

"I don't know; I have to look first," Phillip said.

Laura picked up her purse and found a dollar and gave it to him, "Don't get anything you're not supposed to have."

"I won't," he said and walked out the door. As he went past his parent's room he paused and put his head against the door to listen, he heard those familiar sounds he used to hear occasionally before his dad fixed his vent, "Ugh." He walked on down the hall until he found the vending machine. He picked out what he wanted and went back to the room. When he got inside, he flopped down on the bed, "Mom and Dad are doing it," he announced.

Laura looked up from her book, "I didn't need to know that." She went back to her reading.

"What's it like?" Phillip asked.

"What's what like?"

"You know, doing it," Phillip asked.

"I wouldn't know," Laura said trying to concentrate on her book.

"But you've done it before," he said.

"No I haven't."

"But you're an adult," Phillip said. "You said so yourself."

"I am an adult, but I still haven't done it," Laura said. "I don't want to talk about this with you. Save your questions for your dad."

"How come?" Phillip asked.

"Because you should talk to your dad, not me." Laura said.

"No, how come you haven't done it?" Phillip clarified.

"Not that it's any of your business, but I want to wait until everything is right. Now I'm not talking about this with you," Laura said. She put her book away and turned out the light. "Go to sleep."

Phillip lay there staring at the ceiling. He wasn't sleepy. He tossed and turned for a while then tried counting sheep - that was lame; whoever made that up was stupid. After a while he could tell that Laura fallen asleep. He turned on the television with the sound off and found a movie to watch.

….

Susan and David lay nestled together with David still gently caressing and kissing her. "You know, you didn't have to have the procedure," Susan said after her breathing returned to normal. "I would have had my tubes tied instead."

"No, you've been poked and prodded on enough," he said as he fingered each of her scars along her abdomen. "Besides I don't believe that women should be the only responsible members in a relationship."

"You were so sore though," Susan said. "I was really concerned there for a while."

"Well, if you'd had your tubes tied, you would have been sore too," David countered. "I'm not sore anymore and now you don't have to worry so much. Besides, at 47 and 49, I think we're both done. People already think that Billy is our grandson."

"Do I really look old enough to be a grandmother?" Susan asked.

David laughed, "You look like a woman in her mid-forties and you're beautiful." He kissed her again. "I love you so much."

Billy started getting restless, "Sounds like somebody is starting to wake up. I better take care of business before he fully wakes." Susan said. She got up and went to the restroom and by the time she returned David had picked Billy up and was holding him to keep him calm until his mother returned.

…

Lights were flickering and flashing through her eyelids. Laura slowly opened her eyes and then realized that the television was on as the light from the screen reflected on the walls. She shifted so that she could see what Phillip was watching. She sat up and Phillip quickly turned off the television, but not before she saw what he was watching. She got up and took the remote from him, "Come on," she said. Phillip didn't move, so she grabbed his arm and pulled him out of bed, "I _said_ come on." Once out of bed, she put her hand on the back of his neck and guided him out of the room and went next door. She knocked on the door and waited.

A very sleepy David opened the door, "What's wrong?" he asked when he saw Laura and Phillip. Laura didn't answer, but guided Phillip through the door into his parent's room then turned around and left going back to her own. David looked at Phillip, "I believe I asked a question."

"I was watching television," Phillip said.

"At 2 am?" Susan asked having woke up from the commotion.

"What could you possibly be watching at 2 o'clock in the morning?" David asked.

"Just stuff, nothing important; I couldn't sleep so I turned on the television without the sound so it wouldn't bother Laura," Phillip replied.

"There isn't much on television at 2 am that _is_ important," David said. "What were you watching?"

"It was just a story about a guy and these girls," Phillip explained.

"A guy and these girls," Susan repeated getting up out of bed already having picked up on what he was watching. "What channel were you watching Phillip?" Phillip dropped his eyes and told them. Susan shook her head, "Wonderful," she said sarcastically. She picked Billy up out of his crib, grabbed his diaper bag and started out the room, "Seems like you two are going to be having a long talk, so Billy and I are going next door to sleep."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Laura was just pouring syrup on her waffle when a very chaste Phillip sat down at the table, "I'm sorry for last night," he said. "And everything else too," he added. Laura glanced at him and nodded. "Where's mom?"

"Over there, fixing herself a waffle," she said pointing at the hotel breakfast bar.

Phillip looked over and saw Susan standing in front of a waffle iron holding Billy on one hip. Billy reached out for the iron, but Susan caught his hand before he could touch the hot iron. Phillip got up from the table and went over to Susan, "I'm sorry," he said.

Susan looked over at him, "Okay," she paused for a moment and continued quietly, "Son, I understand that you are turning into a young man and you are getting curious about things, but you need to be talking to your father when you have questions. He's the best role model you have in your life. Don't be afraid to ask him _or_ me questions when you have them, but discussing these things with Laura is inappropriate. She loves you very much, but you didn't grow up together and so conversations like these and satisfying your curiosity in her presence makes her feel very uncomfortable."

"Yes ma'am," Phillip said. He reached out and took Billy from his mother and went back to the table and sat down.

"You're not eating?" Laura asked.

"I'm going to wait until mom finishes and then I'll go fix my plate," he answered. Billy reached his hands out to the table and pounded a few times. Laura put her hands in front of his and pounded with him to play. He grinned and babbled, then pounded a few more times.

Finally Susan came over with her plate and sat down. She started to reach for Billy, but Phillip told her he would hold him until she was finished. Susan quickly ate her waffle and then took Billy from Phillip so he could make his plate. Billy resumed his game of slap the table when Susan decided to change it up on him. She moved her plate within his reach and let him slap his hand into her plate which had a small amount of syrup left on it. Billy's left handed landed in the plate. He stopped and lifted his hand and looked at it then touched his other hand to it. Now both hands were sticky. Soon he was sticking his hand to the table then Laura put a paper napkin down. He slapped his hand on the napkin and when he lifted his hand, the paper napkin came with him. He reached with his other hand to grab the napkin and it stuck to that hand. He tried again, but the napkin wouldn't come off so he started waiving his hands in the air and then frustrated with the whole situation wailed out.

"Okay, okay," Susan said getting a wipe from his bag and cleaning off his hands. Now that his hands were clean, he slapped the table again and giggled. "Seems he doesn't like his hands dirty."

"Guess not," Laura replied.

David finally came into the breakfast area freshly shaven, but still looking tired from his interrupted sleep the night before. He walked over to Phillip who was pulling his waffle out of the iron said something to him and then filled his plate.

"Let's see what he does with this," Susan said putting a fresh paper napkin on the table in front of Billy. Billy slapped his hands down on the napkin and lifted his hand. The napkin stayed on the table. He grabbed the napkin and dropped it. Susan moved her plate in front of him again and he slapped it down on the plate getting his hand covered in syrup.

"What are you doing?" Phillip asked when he came back to the table.

"Letting him discover," Susan said.

"He's getting syrup everywhere," Phillip said.

"It'll wash," Susan said. "I want to see what he does with it."

Billy touched his fingers together a few times then slapped his hands down on the napkin which came up with him when he lifted his hands. He laughed and waived his hands in the air. Susan took the napkin off his hand just as David came to the table and sat down next to Susan. Billy looked at his dad and reached out to grab his hair, this time getting it before his dad could catch his hand and succeeded in getting syrup in David's hair. David reached up and took his hair out of Billy's syrup covered hands, "Gee thanks," he said. Susan laughed and took another wipe out of the diaper bag and washed Billy's hands.

...

Ten feet away a man was reading a newspaper. He discreetly picked up his phone and snapped a photo. He sent the photo with a message, "Little over half way."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

An hour later the family was back on the road. Susan was driving with David in the passenger seat so he could sleep a little more. Laura was driving the car with Phillip. Susan turned on the radio and found a station; it was playing some blues of Muddy Waters. Susan smiled; he was one of her brother's favorite artists. Greg was a very proficient musician, but the blues really spoke to him. When he played, he put his very sole into the music. It was probably the only time he opened himself for all to see. Normally there was a huge barrier and even Susan had only occasionally seen glimpses behind that barrier.

Susan continued her drive watching the terrain gradually change as they moved across the country. David and Billy were both sleeping peacefully. Suddenly there was a loud bang and the jeep's engine stopped. Susan barely had enough time to coast over to the side of the road before it stopped all forward motion. David and Billy had both woken with the noise and Billy having been startled awake was crying. Susan tried to start the engine to no avail, "Well I guess the car has decided that it's had enough."

David got out of the car and asked Susan to pop the hood. He lifted the hood and looked inside. Susan smiled to herself, David didn't know the first thing about auto mechanics, but as the man of the house he felt obliged to get out and look. Susan stepped out of the car and peaked under the hood with him, "Yep, that's what I thought," she said.

"What's that?" David asked.

"It's an engine," Susan said.

"What do you suppose is wrong with it?" David asked.

"Haven't a clue," Susan said with a smile. "What's your diagnosis?"

"It's broken," David said returning her smile realizing she was teasing him for even bothering to look. He took out his phone to call a towing service.

Susan opened the door and took out the keys and motioned to Phillip to come help her. She opened the back and Phillip pulled out the luggage and took it to the car. Susan walked around to the passenger side and opened the backseat door to retrieve Billy, "Hey buddy, its ok. It was just a big noise." She pulled him out of his seat and held him until he calmed down. Phillip came back after having loaded the luggage into the car and disconnected the car seat. Laura had moved to the back seat and Phillip handed her the car seat which she set in place in the middle of the back seat and he got in the other side to wait.

Before David could finish his call a highway patrol officer pulled up behind the car and got out, "What's the issue?" he said coming up to Susan as he could see that David was still on the phone.

"The old jeep decided it'd had enough and quit," Susan said. The officer smiled at her sense of humor. "David is calling a tow service to get it off the road," she added. Billy had quieted down at this point and the officer tickled his cheek, "How old is he?"

"Three and a half months," Susan said.

The officer glanced in the car, "Do you have much further to go? I see you have New Jersey plates on your vehicles."

"About another six hours of travel time," Susan said. "New job, so we're uprooting and moving half way across the country."

David walked over and started talking to the officer, so Susan went to the car with Billy. She took advantage of the time to change him and then handed him to Laura who buckled him in his seat. After several moments, the officer got in his car and left and David walked to the car and got in, "Did we get everything out of the jeep?" he asked.

"Yes," Phillip replied. "I re-arranged the trunk and we have a couple of bags on the floor back here."

David checked his mirror and pulled out onto the interstate when it was clear, "The tow company is going to pick up the jeep and take it to the town up ahead. We were going to drive straight through, but we'll stop there overnight to take care of it and then we'll finish up the drive tomorrow."

As they headed west, a dark car slowly passed them by on the left and glanced in at the family. Laura saw the man looking in as he passed by and wrinkled her forehead, "Dad?" she said.

Susan lifted her eyebrows at the sudden shift in the way she addressed David, but David handled the change without reaction, "Yes Laura?"

"See that dark car that just passed us?" Laura asked.

David shifted his eyes to look at the car which also had New Jersey plates, "yes."

"I've seen the guy in that car three times since we left New Jersey. He was behind me when we first left our house and then I saw him this morning reading a newspaper in the café at the hotel and just now," Laura said.

"Could just be coincidence, but I'll pay more attention," David said.

"Why would somebody be following us?" Phillip asked.

"Probably checking you out to see if they want scalp your blond hair," Laura said referring to their conversation the day before.

"That's not funny," Phillip said.

"Is too," Laura said.

"Is not," Phillip replied.

Billy, picking up on the tone of his brother and sister arguing back and forth babbled to add his own voice to the argument.

Susan smiled to herself, as she listened to the noise erupting from the back seat thinking that somewhere during the course of this trip they must have converged from a conglomerate to a real family if what was going on the back seat was any indication. She glanced over at David who must have been thinking the same thing given the smirk on his face as well. She settled back and relaxed listening to the cacophony that most parents would probably find annoying, but was music to her ears.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

There wasn't a hotel in this tiny town, but there was a garage that the jeep was taken to by the tow truck and a diner within walking distance. David got out of the car to talk to the garage owner and Susan took the kids over to the diner. After a good many honeys, darlin's and sweethearts from the wait staff as well as a lot of cooing over the baby, Susan and the kids were seated at a booth each enjoying a piece of apple pie with ice cream, except Billy of course who was doing his best to try to stick his hands in his mother's bowl.

David came inside the diner and joined his family at the table, "Well, we 'threw a rod' according to the mechanic, whatever that means, and it'll cost over $2000 to fix. Of course the parts they need have to be ordered, so it'll be several days before he would have it ready."

"Sell it to him and let him part it out," Susan said. "I don't want to sink $2000 into a car with over 200,000 miles on it."

"I knew you would say that, so when he offered I took him up on it," David said. "I sold it to him for $500."

"We can use that money at the trading post," Phillip announced seriously.

The family all looked at him rather astonished when he grinned wide, "Gotcha," he said.

…..

Two hours later, the family pulled into a motel ready to call it quits for the day. They hadn't made any reservations here, but the sign said 'vacancy' and the place looked clean from the outside. David left the family in the car and went inside to get a room. When he came back out he only had one key and the vacancy light on the entrance went out, "We got the last one," he said. It's a double and it's around the corner. He drove around the building and pulled in where the attendant had instructed him. The room was upstairs and was accessed from the outside. After several trips up and down, the family was in the room and of course, Phillip immediately turned on the television and started flipping from channel to channel.

"Really Phillip?" Laura said. "You've gone through the same 10 channels about six times now, there is _nothing_ on."

Susan looked outside, it was late afternoon and the weather was beautiful outside. Suddenly, she got up and handed Billy to David and picked up her purse, "I'll be back in about an hour," she announced and walked out the door. David, Laura, Phillip and even Billy watched her walk out the door, "Where's she going?" Phillip asked and started to get up to follow her.

"Phillip," David said to get his attention. Phillip turned around to face his dad, "Let her go; she's got something up her sleeve."

"What?" Phillip asked.

"You know as much as I do," David said. "It'll be fine, whatever it is."

Susan trotted downstairs, got in the car and drove around to the front office. She went inside and got the information she needed and then got back in the car and took off. Good to her word an hour later, David got a text. He fished his phone out of his pocket, _Look out the window_. David looked out the window and saw Susan across the street at a park waving. _Grab the kids and the diaper bag and meet me out here._ "Come on," David said picking up the diaper bag and handing it to Laura while he carried Billy.

By the time the family reached Susan, she had spread a blanket from the trunk of the car out on the ground and had distributed paper plates and was preparing sandwiches for everybody. "I don't know about you guys, but I've had about all the restaurant food I want," she said when they reached her. "It's beautiful outside."

"That it is," David said sitting down next to her with Billy in his lap leaned up against him so he wouldn't tip over.

After their picnic, Phillip challenged Laura to a race on the monkey bars. As the older two kids headed off toward the playground equipment, Susan started putting the leftovers away, "Susan?" Susan looked up in question. "Why do you believe House is still alive?"

"He came to visit while you and Phillip were at his memorial service," she answered.

"You _talked_ to him?" David asked incredulously

"No, I was asleep," she said.

"Then how do you know he was there?"

"Billy was moved. I had dozed off while I was nursing him and when I woke up, Billy was in the bassinet."

"I'm sure a nurse came in and moved him," David reasoned.

"That's what I thought at first too, but it was Greg."

"If you were asleep, how would you know who it was Susan?"

"He left me a note," Susan said she opened her purse and took out her wallet. She opened the side pocket and pulled out a friendship bracelet. She handed it over to David, "He wrapped that around Billy's wrist."

David took the bracelet from Susan and looked at it, "It's just a friendship bracelet, Susan. Anybody could have put it there."

"Not _that_ one," Susan said. "I made _that_ one for him when he went to prison. It was in the first letter I wrote him that was returned. _You_ took him the stack of letters I had written that were returned when he was first released from prison."

"How do you know this was the one that you braided?" David asked handing it back to her.

"Really, David? I think I would recognize my own work," Susan responded taking the bracelet back from him and putting it back in her wallet. "He put it on when he read the first letter and I never saw him without it afterwards." They sat back for a while not saying anything, but watching the older kids challenge each other on each piece of equipment. It was fun watching them see who could outdo each other, but most of all it was fun seeing them actually play even though Laura was eight years older than Phillip. Susan looked over at David seeing his face crunched up in thought, "You still don't believe me do you?"

"I want to," David said. "But I don't want you to get your hopes up and then your heart broken when he never comes home."

"He'll come home. He'll figure out where we are and he'll come home," Susan said. She reached for Billy who was getting restless from sitting in one place. She checked his diaper and not seeing any reason to change him just yet, got up from the blanket and took him over to the swing where she had spied a baby seat.

David watched her walk away. She was so confident that House was still alive. Anybody could have put that bracelet on William; and that bracelet didn't look any different to him than all the other friendship bracelets he'd seen. It's just braided string after-all. Besides, if he was alive, whose body was pulled out the building? The coroner confirmed it was House through the dental records. Why was he even in that building? He had his own apartment. Blythe owned the apartment now; he wasn't sure what she was going to do with it. Suddenly David got angry, "What about Blythe? What a horrible thing to do to his mother if he was indeed alive. No parent should have to go through the death of their child, even one as acerbic as House. If he was alive and she went through the agony of losing her son for no reason….David couldn't complete the thought. He got up from the ground and walked over to Susan who was squatted down in front of Billy talking to him while pushing him gently in the swing, "Are you upset with me?"

"No," Susan said. "I wish you would trust me, but it's not like I haven't lived through not being trusted before. If this is the worst our relationship has to offer, then I can live with that. It's still a million times better than what I had before." Suddenly a sound erupted from Billy followed by a distinct odor, "I need to figure out what I'm eating that's causing such stinky-ness from you," Susan said to Billy. "If you were eating regular food, I could understand this, but wow!" She pulled Billy out of the swing and headed over to the blanket, "After I change him, I'm going to head inside," she said over her shoulder.

David hollered to Laura and Phillip that it was time to leave and turned to follow Susan. He picked up the basket and the diaper bag when she was finished and walked by her side as they made their way back to the motel, "Susan, I can accept that this is what you believe, but I don't think I'm going to be able to believe it until I see him standing in our doorway."

Susan glanced in his direction, "That _is_ your choice, Thomas," she said with a smirk.

"Thomas?" David said understanding the reference. "I think equating House to Jesus is a bit of a stretch."

"I'm not equating Greg to Jesus; I'm equating you to Thomas. He had trust issues too," Susan replied. She reached out with her free hand and put it on the back of David's arm, "It's okay David, really."

…

That night David lay in bed staring at the ceiling. Laura, Phillip and Billy were all asleep. He was fairly sure that Susan was not, but she was quiet, leaving him to his thoughts alone. Snippets of conversations with both Susan and Laura over the last three days were running through his head, _"I just wish you would trust me on this"; "You're good for mom, David. Especially after everything that dad put her through; you are everything she needs in a partner. She needs your companionship and your love which she undoubtedly has, but she also needs your trust."; "I wish you would trust me, but it's not like I haven't lived through not being trusted before. If this is the worst our relationship has to offer, then I can live with that. It's still a million times better than what I had before."_ David didn't want to be like Jeff even if he was 'a million times better'. He didn't want to be compared to that emotionally abusive bastard at all. The worst thing was that Susan actually expected and accepted it as a matter of course. He couldn't be like that; he had to trust everything about her even if it didn't make logical sense. He looked her direction; she was facing away with her arm down in the crib and her hand silently rubbing Billy's back. He rolled over to her and spooned up behind her, "I trust you with my life," he whispered into her neck.

Susan reached up and squeezed his hand in response and though she knew that he did indeed trust her with his life, he hadn't quite reached the point that he could trust her with Greg until it made logical sense to him. He was trying though and that was enough for Susan.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

It was very early afternoon when the family turned onto the gravel road that would lead to their new home. On the way through the state to get here, they passed through two cities each complete with a downtown of skyscrapers and international airports at both, "See Phillip, they have cities and everything," Laura had said teasing Phillip.

"Shut-up," Phillip had responded.

"That's enough, Phillip," Susan said. "I told you not to get mad at anybody; you're the one that left yourself wide open for teasing."

As they left the capital city, Laura had seen the dark car again, but when they switched highways, the car had continued south, "Maybe he was just following the same track we were for a while," she had said when he passed by as they exited. "Though three days seems excessive," she added.

"He probably wondered the same thing," David had said in reply.

Susan didn't comment, opting to keep her thoughts to herself. She had her suspicions as well, but decided it wasn't worth talking about.

After about a mile or so, they turned left onto another gravel road and drove for another half mile. Susan could see a house in the distance growing larger as they got closer. David slowed down and turned into the drive. There was a car waiting in front of the house and when they pulled up, the realtor got out of his car, "Mr. James," he said coming over to shake hands. "How was your drive across the country?"

"We had a few hiccups, but we came through everything without too much damage," he said smiling.

The realtor looked over toward the car as everybody exited the car, "Well traveling anywhere for more than a few hours with a carload of kids is always an adventure. I always feel a bit like the Griswold's when I head out with the family."

David smiled, "Well at least we didn't have to strap any dead people to the roof."

"That's a good thing, because you might have to give a eulogy in the rain." Turning serious he said, " I have a few more papers I need you to sign, then tomorrow you'll finish the last of the closing papers at the abstract office," he said.

"The house isn't ours yet?" Susan asked. "But our stuff will be here tomorrow afternoon. I was hoping to be able to clean today and tomorrow morning."

"Oh, no worries. The previous owner is happy for you to move in now," he said handing the keys over to Susan, "she relocated to the city nearly a year ago."

Susan looked around the property. She hadn't seen it, trusting David to find what they needed. He had sent several photos to her when he came out for his interview and when he sent a photo of this place she could tell he was really excited about it. She knew the house was a ranch style three bedroom home with an office and an open floor plan where the living, dining and kitchen areas were all in one room. She could see what looked like a disconnected garage off to the side with a walkway to the house, or maybe it was a guest house. That hadn't been in any of the photos David had sent. She continued her look around, certainly it didn't look like anybody had done much, if any, work on the place in a year. The grass was tall, nearly to her shoulder level and there were a number of dead trees that needed cut down. The fence was in disrepair as well. She wondered if David had any idea what he was getting into, or was he so bent on getting her back to the country that he didn't even see the amount of work that needed to be done. "There's a lot of work to be done," Susan said. "When is the appointment tomorrow?"

"Nine," the realtor answered. "That's the earliest slot they had available. You'll both need to be there." Susan looked off to toward the house, "Go on in, it's effectively yours. You've already paid for half of it, tomorrow is just formalities."

Susan walked towards the house with Billy in her arms, "Let's go look at our new home," she told him. Laura and Phillip followed behind while David stayed back to talk with the realtor. Susan unlocked the door and went inside, the floors were wood plank and there was a fireplace in the corner of the house. She walked over to the kitchen area where stone flooring had been laid. She liked the color of the floor against the hardwood flooring of the rest of the living area. The countertops were made of granite, so Susan knew they were of good quality. She opened a cabinet door and saw that the cabinets were made of solid oak and not just veneered. The stove was a free standing gas range, probably propane, but she hadn't looked for the tank outside. There was a microwave that also functioned as a vent for the stove. She turned on the water faucet, it sputtered and spattered getting air out of the lines and then came to life. The water coming out was red and smelled of sulfur, "Wonderful," she said. "We need to check out the pressure tank and see what kind of water softening system, if any, there is on the system." Laura moved over to the wall and flipped the light switch, nothing. "That was interesting," Susan said. "Try another one."

"Why is it interesting?" asked Phillip. "The electricity probably isn't turned on."

"Except that we have water," Susan said.

"So, we had water when the electricity went out at home last winter." Phillip argued.

"Well, Phillip, at home we got our water through a gravity fed system operated by the city. Here, we obviously have well water which means that we have to have a pump that pulls the water out of the well and puts it in a pressure tank which provides the water to the house. Something is powering the pump even though the electricity is off," Susan explained. "We'll have to do some exploring to find the water source."

"It's probably all hidden in the grass as tall as it is," Laura said. "We're going to have to buy a tractor and a brush hog."

"We're going to get a tractor?" Phillip said. "Can I drive it?"

"More than likely mowing will be your chore, so yes you would have to drive the tractor," Susan replied grinning at his excitement.

David came inside just as the family entered the hall toward the bedrooms. The main bathroom was off to the left and a small office directly across from it on the right. Further down were the bedrooms. The master bedroom had its own bathroom with a large walk-in shower. The two smaller bedrooms were across the hall from master bedroom, but the one on the end was larger than the other, "I get this room," Phillip said.

"Yes, that would be a good idea since you and Billy will be sharing," Susan said.

"Sharing?" Phillip said. "I've never had to share my room before."

"You've been an only child up to now and there are only three bedrooms in this house. Until Laura officially moves out, you share. After that each of you can have your own room," David said.

"Well, we have a lot work to do if we are going to be ready for the movers tomorrow. We need to go to town and find a store for cleaning supplies, and you," Susan said addressing David, "need to get the electricity turned on." She walked back to the kitchen and over to the stove and tried to turn it on, "Apparently we need propane too - that's going to be expensive."

"Do you mind if Phillip and I stay here?" Laura asked.

Susan looked over at David, "What do you think?"

"I think that would be fine," David said.

"Ok, well while you're hanging around, see if you can uncover the propane tank," Susan said.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

With David and Susan gone with Billy, Laura and Phillip headed outside. They started through the ocean of grass and went around to the back of the house, "You act like you know where you are going," Phillip said from behind.

"I think I saw the top of the tank through the window when we were in your room," Laura replied. "I'm just heading in the general direction and hope we run into it."

"Boy, this grass is really tall," Phillip said.

"Well, this area of the country was just prairie in the old days and this wasn't even the "Tall Grass Prairie". So, when it's not taken care of, the native grasses grow and take over again.

"How tall is the grass in the 'Tall grass prairie'?"

"Well over 6 feet," Laura said.

"How do you know so much about this area?" Phillip said.

"I grew up west of here and it's not much different there than it is here," Laura explained.

"So are there really Indians?" Phillip asked.

"Of course there are," Laura said. "And we really are living in the Chickasaw nation like I told you before, but this isn't a reservation they way you think of them. Everybody lives in the same communities side by side regardless of race. They go to school together; they play on the same baseball, football, soccer, volleyball and basketball teams together. It's really not any different here than it is back in Princeton. The only difference is that here, you have elbow room."

"Ouch," Phillip said from behind as he fell.

Laura stopped and turned around, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I tripped over something," Phillip said getting up and looking down, "Oh cool!" he said bending down. He came up with the cleaned skull of a goat, complete with horns. "I'm keeping this," he announced. "I'm going to hang it in my room."

"You might want to clean it first," Laura said, "or mom will have a cow."

"Have a cow?" Phillip asked.

"Throw a fit," Laura translated.

"Oh," Phillip said.

The two continued forward, "Here it is," Laura said as she approached the propane tank. "Wow, this is a big one." She walked around it and didn't see anything she could step up on to see the gauges. "Here, let me boost you up - straddle it like you would a horse." Phillip gave Laura the skull which she put on the ground and then bent over with her hands together so Phillip could put his foot in her hands. She boosted him up and he straddled the tank. "Now, take the top off and look at the gauge."

Phillip took the top off and a wasp flew out, "Whoa," he said as he shifted to avoid the wasp.

"What does the gauge say?" Laura asked.

"I don't know how to read it," Phillip said.

"Look at the needle, what number is it pointing to?"

"It's pointing at zero," Phillip said.

"Okay, put the lid back on and then jump off," she said pulling out her phone. She looked, "Oh, good we have reception here," she said as she dialed.

…..

David and Susan were perusing the shelves of the grocery store in town looking for the cleaning supplies. Billy was in his car seat which they had pulled off its base in the car and attached it to the grocery cart. David was pushing the cart and playing with Billy while Susan was filling it with all kinds of cleaning supplies when her phone rang. David listened to her end of the conversation and was able to determine that the kids had found the propane tank and that it was empty and that Phillip had found something else that he was all excited about. When she got off the phone, she filled him in telling them that Phillip had found the skull of a goat and he had decided he was going to decorate his room with it, "Sounds like he's already figuring out that this isn't going to be such a boring place."

"David, have all the inspections been done on the house and has the land survey been completed?" Susan asked.

"Yes," David said. "And the realtor gave me the numbers for the electric coop and the numbers for two propane companies as well as the number for the local guy that inspects septic systems. I'm going to call them all as soon as we get back to the house."

Susan nodded, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have doubted you. When we drove up and I saw everything that needed to be done, I started wondering if you realized everything as this is a little out of your comfort zone."

"I've no doubt, I have a lot to learn," David said. "It'll be fun figuring this stuff out together. I'm really looking forward to this." After a moment he added, "Actually, I'm sorry, I should have brought you out here when I interviewed, so you could see for yourself and pick out what you wanted instead of presuming."

"It would have been a little difficult with the baby," Susan said. "David, I'm not disappointed in your choice, and I'm flattered that you bought this for me, just understand it's not where I am that is important to me; it's who I'm with. However given the choice, I would have picked the same place. I do love the wide openness and when we're finally settled, we'll be eating breakfast while watching the deer and other wildlife out the window. Phillip will learn to grow his own fresh vegetables, and Billy will get to grow up outside of the city. Plus, I'm looking forward to being a little more self-sufficient."

"What do you mean?" David asked.

"It's been a while since you been grocery shopping; the costs have skyrocketed. Out here, we can grow our own vegetables, raise chickens and rabbits and maybe even goats," Susan explained. "If there's a good place for it on the property, we could dig a pond and stock it with fish. It'll be nice to grow some of our own food. We won't be able to eliminate weekly trips to the grocery store, but at least we won't have to buy everything."

"I don't relish the thought of having to butcher our own meat," David said.

"Well, it isn't pleasant," Susan said, "If you actually enjoy it, there's probably something wrong with you. Dad used to butcher rabbits and chickens when we moved to the farm when I was in high school. The eggs from a free range chicken taste a lot better than store bought eggs and the meat tastes better too. I just have to remember how to do it. I wonder if the library here has those foxfire books?"

Susan and David finished their shopping which included a trip to the hardware store to purchase a shopvac since their vacuum cleaner was in the moving truck, and headed back to the property. On the way out of town, they stopped on to get a room at a small motel in town to sleep overnight. They wouldn't be able to stay in their new home until their furniture arrived the next day and there was a lot of work to be done before the movers got there.

The rest of the afternoon and evening, until it was so dark they couldn't see, was spent cleaning, dusting, vacuuming, killing spiders and crickets, and checking for signs of rodents and other 'visitors' to the house during its vacancy with each person taking turns babysitting Billy out on the porch because of all the dust being generated from the cleaning. Billy thought it was great fun because he got to play with everybody so he got lots of tickling and raspberries - which were his favorite, and especially enjoyed great games of tug of war and hair pulling.

At the end of the day, the family stumbled into their room taking turns in the shower and falling exhausted into bed. This particular night there was no bantering with each other, in fact there was no talking except where necessary and as soon as each exited the shower and crawled in bed, they were asleep, except Billy of course who had taken all the naps he had any interest in taking during the course of the day. This wasn't nearly as much fun as he was having earlier and so it wasn't long before he was expressing his displeasure at the entire situation. Susan groggily sat up and pulled Billy out of his portable crib. She fed him silently and then instead of putting him back in his crib, she laid him on the bed in between David and her so he couldn't roll out and promptly fell back asleep.

The next morning David was awaken with a start when he felt something wet on his nose followed by a sharp tug of his hair. "Hey," he said pulling away from Billy after removing his hair from his hands and wiped the baby slobber off of his nose. "Good morning to you too," he said kissing him on the head.

Susan moved to get up, "Oh," she said and flopped back down.

"Little sore?" David asked.

"Just a bit," Susan said meaning exactly the opposite.

"Me too," David replied getting up, "We need to get up and get dressed. We have that meeting at the abstract office this morning." He glanced over at the older kids who were both still asleep. "We'll leave them here and then come back and get them when we're done."

David and Susan got up, dressed and went out the door without waking Laura and Phillip.

…..

"Oh no!" Phillip cried from the bathroom.

Laura woke up with a start and sat up, "What?!" she replied.

"I've got something stuck under my arm. I think it's a tick!" Phillip yelled. Laura got up out of bed and went to the bathroom door and tried to open it, "Don't come in here! I'm naked," Phillip cried.

"Then wrap a towel around yourself and unlock the door," Laura said. "And quit hollering, you'll wake the folks in the room next door."

A few moments later the door unlocked and Laura walked inside. She looked under his arm, "Yep, that's a tick."

"Get it off!" Phillip said.

"Don't be such a girl," Laura said. "Is that the only one you have?"

"I think so," Phillip said.

"Are you sure?" Laura asked. "Ticks like to crawl and get in all the crevices and cracks." Phillip's eyes went wide, "Are you teasing me again?"

"Not this time, Phillip," Laura said, "You need to look _everywhere_."

"But I can't _see_ everywhere," Phillip said.

"That's what mirrors are for," Laura explained leaving the bathroom for a minute. She came back with a compact mirror, "Use that, and if you find one in one of those _everywhere_ places, then dad will help you with those. I can get that one for you after you get dressed. Leave your shirt off when you come out." Laura left again and shut the door behind her. She pulled her cosmetic bag out of her suitcase and rummaged around until she found her manicure set that had a really sharp and fine point pair of tweezers

Ten minutes later, Phillip came out of the bathroom dressed in everything except his shirt, "I didn't find anymore," he said.

"Good, lay down on your side with your arm up," Laura told him.

Laura had just settled in with the tweezers and a bottle of alcohol and some cotton balls when David, Susan and Billy walked in the door, "What's up?" David asked.

"Phillip has a tick," Laura said.

"I hate those things," Susan said.

"Mom, do you want to do this?" Laura asked.

"Nah, go ahead. You've got it under control," Susan said. Laura started to grab the tick with the tweezers, "Make sure you get all the way to the base of the tick right next to the skin and pull straight up."

"I heard that you could get the tick to back out on its own if you put a hot match on it," David said.

"And usually end up burning the skin while you're at it; I've tried that one as well as painting it with fingernail polish, soaking it with bleach, and about every other wives tale you've ever heard. The best way is just to pull the stupid thing out. If you get really close to the base of it, then you're more successful in getting the head out. Either way, with the head in or out, it's going to itch for a while," Susan said.

"Am I going to get Lyme disease now?" Phillip asked.

Susan smiled, "No, for two reasons. First, you got the tick off before it had been 24 hours and second, this one looks like a lone star tick and they don't really carry Lyme. They do carry Rocky Mountain spotted fever, but like I said you're getting it off in plenty of time. Don't worry about it, ok? This may be the first tick you've ever had, but it won't be your last. Once we get the grass mowed on the property, there won't be as many ticks," She looked over at David, "That's another reason to have Chickens, they love the nasty things."

"Chickens eat ticks?" Phillip asked as Laura finished.

"Yep, and all kinds of bugs. In fact, I've even seen them chase and fight over a mouse. They're not really _just_ grain eaters," Susan explained.

The family finished getting their things together and headed to their new home. There was still a bit of work to do on the house before the movers arrived with their furniture.

Phillip was inspecting the fireplace when he heard the truck pull up outside, "Mom, they're here!"

Susan came out of the master bedroom carrying Billy in one arm. She handed him to Phillip and went outside where David was already meeting with the driver. They opened the back of the truck to start unloading. The first items they unloaded were the lawn equipment. David hollered at Phillip who came out with Billy hanging over his shoulder and laughing while seeing the world nearly upside down. David took Billy from Phillip and told him to use the weed eater to cut down the grass closest to the house. After David spoke with the moving crew, he handed Billy to Susan. Billy, who was getting tired of being handed from person to person, expressed his displeasure and started to wail, "No," Susan told him, "You hush." Billy just cried out louder obviously upset and it wasn't long before he was hysterical. Susan turned around and went back in the house and to her bedroom where his portable crib was set up and put him in it. "Time out time for you little man," she said. "Being a baby doesn't give you an excuse to act out." Susan walked out the door and Billy cried louder in anger. Susan closed her eyes and took a deep breath and headed back out. She hated disciplining at such a young age, but she knew from experience that you had to get a handle on things right from the start. There was a difference between the crying because he needed something and the crying of a temper tantrum and Susan had already learned to detect the difference with Billy.

David was explaining to the crew that Susan would direct them where to put things and then turned to Susan, "Will you be OK? I have to go check in at the University and the University President wants to meet with me later this afternoon."

"We'll be fine," Susan replied, "Just bring back some dinner with you."

"Will do," David said. He leaned over to kiss her goodbye and headed to the car.

Susan looked in the truck and could see that the items closest to the door were the kitchen items, "Well it looks like we're starting in the kitchen," she said. "If you guys will get started with that, I need to go check on my youngest. It should be intuitively obvious where the refrigerator and the table should go. I'll be back shortly." The men started unloading the truck while Susan went back into her bedroom. Billy was lying down in the crib sucking his thumb. His eyes were still full of tears, but he wasn't crying anymore. "Are you ready to be good?" Susan asked. Billy held his arms toward his mother and Susan bent over and picked him up, "I love you little man," she said and kissed him on the cheek. Billy laid his head down on her shoulder and fell asleep.

Outside Phillip was weed-eating a path around the house. Laura suddenly showed up in front of him out of nowhere, "Hey!" she said getting his attention. He shut down the weed eater so he could hear her, "Come check this out."

Phillip followed her around the house to the detached garage and opened the door; only it wasn't a detached garage, it was a small house. It had a small living room with a kitchenette, one bathroom and one bedroom. It matched the decor of the main house only smaller, "Wow," he said. "Why are there two houses?"

"It's a guest house," Laura said, "or it could have been that one of the previous owners had their parents living here so they could make sure they were ok, but still let them have their independence. I had a friend when I was in high school whose parents did that with her grandmother instead of putting her in an assisted living facility." Laura walked back to the bedroom with Phillip following not far behind, "I wonder if mom and dad would let me stay in here. That way you wouldn't have to share a room with Billy," Laura mused. Phillip started to reply when Laura continued, "though, this would make a great place for Uncle Greg to stay."

"Uncle Greg?" Phillip said. "You do know he's dead, right?"

"No, he's not," Laura said. "Mom says that he's still alive."

"I went to his funeral," Phillip said, "I know."

"Did you see his body?" Laura asked.

"No, just a picture; they cremated his body; there was one of those flower pot things," Phillip said.

"It's called an urn, dork head," Laura said.

"Looks like a flower pot, but that's not the point. They wouldn't have had a funeral for him if he wasn't dead and dad told me that doctor said it was him because of his teeth even though he was burned so badly," Phillip explained. "Dad says that mom is having a hard time accepting it and for me not to talk about it with her because it just upsets her."

"Mom doesn't have a problem accepting death, Phillip. Everybody she ever cared about has died except me," Laura said.

"She cares about me," Phillip argued. "She adopted me and she cares about dad and Billy too."

"That's not what I meant," Laura said. "Of course she cares about you; I'm talking about in her past. Her mom and dad died and then my dad died. She didn't pretend they were still alive. Mom has a reason to believe that Uncle Greg is still alive and you should believe her." Phillip didn't say anything. "Look, you haven't known mom as long as I have. She is really smart and very analytical and if she believes that he is alive it's because she has evidence that proves it. She wouldn't believe it without some kind of proof."

…

Susan finished telling the movers where to put the living room furniture and then went in her bedroom to start organizing the boxes and furniture they had just brought in for her. She put sleeping Billy in his portable crib and had just opened a box of sheets when one of the movers poked his head in the bedroom, "Ma'am, where do you want us to put the piano?"

"Oh ok, put it next to the northern wall behind the sofa," she instructed. The mover's head disappeared and she went back to pulling sheets out of the box. Having found a matching set, she went over to the bed to start making it up. It would feel good to sleep in her own bed tonight. Her cell phone rang and she reached in her pocket to answer it, "Hello?" she asked not recognizing the number.

"I'm in my new office, it's pretty nice," David said. "Anyway, this is the number for my office. I have my own admin in the outer office and the phone rings out there first and she answers it first unless she's not there."

"What's her name?" Susan asked.

"Diane," David said. "She's an older lady and seems to be the one to run this place."

"A good admin does," Susan said, "and a good boss will let her. She'll be a lot more efficient if you stay out of her way and let her do her job."

"It's going to take some getting used to having help to get everything done," David said, "but I'm looking forward to having her help. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know what the number here was. I have an appointment with the president in about 15 minutes."

"Okay, what time do you think you'll be home?" Susan asked.

"Probably around 6 or 7, I'm not sure what traffic is like around here at rush hour," David replied. "Oh, I almost forgot, the electric coop called me and they'll be there at 4:00 to hook up the electricity and the propane guy will be there tomorrow morning to fill the propane tank."

"Have you heard from the septic people yet?" Susan asked.

"Not yet, but I'll let you know when I do. I gotta go," David said.

"Okay, bye," Susan said. "Love you"

"Love you too."

Susan hung up the phone and continued working on the bed when one of the other movers poked his head in the door, "Ma'am, where do you want the piano?"

Susan looked up at him a bit confused, hadn't the other guy just asked her that? "Next to the northern wall behind the sofa," she said. The man left and she continued working.

…..

"She wants it right next to the other one?" The driver asked.

"That's what she said," the younger mover replied.

"Why does anybody have two pianos?" the driver asked rhetorically.

"Maybe they have home concerts," the younger mover replied.

"Wow, this one is a lot heavier."

"Yeah, well it's a lot bigger too."

The men continued to work and were finally able to put the piano in place then went back to the truck.

….

Susan had moved on to another box, this one contained clothes, and started putting them away when the younger mover poked his head back in the room, "Ma'am?"

"Yes?" Susan asked.

"Where do you want us to put this other couch?"

"What other couch? I thought you already brought in all of the furniture," Susan said.

"No, we still have a couch, a chair, coffee table, butcher block table, several guitars...," he replied.

Susan looked perplexed and interrupted, "I don't have a butcher block table and the only guitar we have is already in Phillip's room," she said as she glanced over at Billy who was still asleep and went into the living room. Just as she stepped into the living room, she skidded to a stop. Greg's baby grand was sitting just in front of her spinet which was against the northern wall. Her mouth dropped open, "Where did you guys get this?" she asked.

"Ma'am, we only deliver the truck. The movers that came to your house picked up the furniture and delivered it to our facility to store until it was time to deliver it to this house. You'll have to call the main office," the driver said.

Susan asked him for the number and she called the main office. Nobody answered the phone, so she left a voice mail asking for somebody to call her back. After hanging up the phone, she followed the movers out to the truck. She peered in the back where she saw all of Greg's furniture neatly arranged in the front third of the truck leaving as much room as possible for their furniture. Susan looked back toward her house, there wasn't any room for any of this in the house and she didn't want to leave it outside. She couldn't ask them to take it back and they were on a timetable. Every minute they were here past their appointment, cost more money. She heard the bang of a door slam and turned toward the noise. Laura and Phillip were coming out of the detached garage. Susan looked back at the drivers, "let's put this stuff in the garage for now and I'll figure out what to do later." The movers hopped up into the truck to start unloading.

"Hey mom, have you looked in there yet?" Laura said pointing at the building she and Phillip had just exited.

"No, I hadn't had a chance," Susan confirmed.

"It's not a garage, it's a guest house," Phillip said.

"I wondered," Susan said. "I figured it was a garage and the doors were just on the other side where I couldn't see them, but it does look a bit like a guest house. Well, at least we have a place for Greg's furniture to go," she stated.

"We have Uncle Greg's furniture?" Phillip asked.

"Apparently," Susan confirmed pointing in the truck.

Phillip poked his head in the truck, "Mom, dad's going to be mad that you did that."

"He has no reason to be mad at me," Susan said. "I didn't do it."

"Why would dad have done it?" Phillip asked.

Before Susan could reply, her phone rang. She answered and it was the main office of the moving company, "Is everything okay Mrs. James?" the receptionist asked.

"Yes, except it seems we have two sets of furniture," Susan replied.

"Well, yes you would," the receptionist said.

"Why?" Susan asked.

"Because the work order says specifically to pick up the furniture at 221B Baker Street, Princeton, NJ, then to 765 N. 6th Street to pick up the furniture there all to be delivered to your acreage today," she said.

"Does it say who placed the order?" Susan asked.

"The only signature we have is David James," she answered.

"Interesting," Susan said. "Thank you." Susan hung up. "Well, apparently your dad had them do it; odd that he didn't say anything." Susan started toward the guest house, "Laura, go check on Billy please." She walked inside the guest house and looked around. There was plenty of dust and cobwebs that needed cleaned but she didn't really have time to deal with it now. The movers brought the furniture in the basic rooms and then left.

"Everything is here except his piano," Phillip said.

"It's in the house," Laura said carrying Billy. "Somebody woke up hungry," she said handing Billy to Susan.

Susan headed out the door back to the house to see to Billy's needs then work on the rest of the unpacking. There was still a lot to do and she was nowhere near finished. As she nursed, she made a mental list. She needed to find the well and treat it. It was probably fine, but it didn't hurt to treat it and she would be done before she could get a coliform kit from the DEQ. She also needed to check out the water system to see which if any softening devices were hooked up. She was fairly confident that there was some kind of system because she didn't see lime deposits on the faucets. She needed to determine the type because some systems pump sodium into the water as they removed the hardness and this would not be good for her with her hypertension. Suddenly she felt and heard the air conditioner kick on, she glanced out the window and saw a truck from the electric coop pulling off the property. She hadn't even known when they arrived and now they were gone. She pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to David so she wouldn't disturb him in his meeting _power is on_ then put her phone back in her pocket. Billy finished, so she changed him into another diaper and an outfit she pulled out of one of the boxes, "Ok Billy, how about we do some exploring?" she asked him as she kissed his nose. She rummaged around the boxes and found the one that contained his baby carrier and hooked it up and arranged it so he would rest on her hip. She went outside and hollered at Laura and Phillip who came out of the guest house. She had Laura help her get Billy situated and told Phillip to get the weed eater, "Cut us a path Sir Phillip; go that way," She said pointing in a northerly direction.

Phillip grinned at her and started the weed eater. He cleared the path in front of them as they made their way in a northerly direction. Billy reached out for the grass that was passing by as his mother walked. Susan obligingly walked a little closer so it would brush against his hands as they passed. He kicked out his feet and felt the grass tickle and laughed as a result, "You like that little man?" Susan said to him pulling a piece of grass and using it to tickle under his chin. The four of them worked their way through the grass when they came to a small clearing that held a pole barn and a small shed, "Oh wow," Susan said when she walked out into the clearing not believing what she was seeing. "Why would they leave this here?" she asked herself, "They could have sold it if they weren't going to use it anymore."

"How do you know it works?" asked Phillip.

"We'll turn it on and see," Susan replied. Phillip reached for the key, "No, wait," Susan said. She opened the cap on the top and looked inside; there was a little diesel in the tank. She pushed the forward and reverse pedal with her hand and they didn't stick in place. She opened the top and checked the oil and the coolant levels, both of which were fine. "Ok, Phillip hop on," she said. She showed him which pedal was the clutch and had him press it all the way to the floor and told him to turn the key, like any good diesel, it started right up. "This is awesome," the told the kids. "This will save us a lot and it looks like it was well maintained. Go ahead and turn it off Phillip."

Phillip turned it off and hopped down, "What is that thing over there?" he asked.

"That's a brush hog which is basically a giant mower," Laura explained. "I'm sure you'll become well acquainted with it."

Susan turned around and walked out of the pole barn and headed over to the shed. It had a key hole in the handle, but it wasn't locked. Susan opened the door and found what she was looking for, and stepped inside. Laura and Phillip walked in behind her, "What is the tank thing?" Phillip asked.

"That's called a pressure tank," Susan explained. "This is the well," she said moving over to the well head and pulling off of the cap. "The pump is down in the well and it is plugged into the wall behind the pressure tank. When the tank reaches a certain low pressure, it turns on the pump to the well until it fills up to…..," she paused while she looked at the gauge, "70 pounds of pressure and then turns the pump off. As we use the water in the tank, the pressure goes down and then it will turn the pump back on." Susan put the lid back on the well head and continued her teaching moment. "See this line?" she asked Phillip who nodded, "The water from the tank goes into this other tank - this is actually a water softening system to remove the metal ions out of the water. This is a salt based system so it basically trades the metal ions in the water with sodium ions which decreases the hardness. I'll have to put an RO system in the house for the water we use to cook and drink to get rid of the sodium."

"Why?" Phillip asked.

"Because mom has high blood pressure and the sodium aggravates it," Laura said.

"Oh yeah, I forgot. But you take medicine for it," Phillip said.

"Yes, but I don't want to have to take more, so I'm careful about things like that." Susan went back to the pressure tank and looked at the power lines. She saw they traveled toward the top of the shed and branched in two directions. One branch went over to the main circuit breaker box on the wall and the other went to a small circuit breaker box and continued up to the roof. "Phillip, climb that tree outside the shed and look on the roof please."

Phillip went outside and started climbing, "There's a solar panel up here," Phillip exclaimed when he reached the top.

"That's great," Susan said. "That's why we had water in the house even though we didn't have electricity. That means that when the power is out, we can still use the toilets, take a bath etc. Ok, climb back down."

Phillip took a moment to look around from his vantage point; he saw a car turning into the driveway, "Dad's home," he said and then clamored down from the tree.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

David hung up the phone from his wife and walked out the door of his office. He stopped to ask Diane for directions to the president's office then left. Several minutes later he was at the president's office. The admin notified the president who opened the door and walked out, "Dr. James, so good to see you again," he said as he extended his hand.

"David is fine sir," David said returning the hand shake.

"Great," he said with a smile, "I'm Stan. Please come inside." The two men walked in the office and the president motioned to a couple of chairs sitting near a round coffee table, "Please sit down."

David sat in one of the chairs and Stan sat in the other, "We are so excited to have you here," he said. "When Mark resigned after the spring semester, we were really scrambling to find a replacement and when your CV found its way to my desk I was really impressed with your credentials."

"If I may ask," David started. "How did you happen across my CV?"

"You didn't send it?"

"No, the first I heard of the job opening was when I received the letter inviting me to come for an interview," David said. "I've been wondering how you found out about me, but the interview was such a whirlwind of activity, I didn't have opportunity to ask."

Stan seemed a little perplexed and got up from his chair and went over to his desk and pushed a button, "Madeline, would you please bring me my file on David James?" He walked back to the chair and sat down just as his admin brought in the file, "Thank you," he said as he opened the file. The admin adjourned closing the door after her. He rustled through the file and found the CV, "Well that's interesting," he said handing the resume over to David.

David took his resume and looked it over, it was the same version he'd had on his computer at work, "What's interesting?" David asked handing it back.

"When resumes or CV's come through the HR department, they are stamped with a receipt date on the top left. This one doesn't have a stamp which means it bypassed the HR department." David was silent, not knowing what to say. He hadn't actually sent them anything prior to his interview.

"Well," Stan said brushing it off. "However it got here, I'm glad it did. As I said we are thrilled to have you here."

The men spoke together for about an hour going over the president's vision for the university the coming years and David's role in that vision. Toward the end he asked about David's family, "Susan and I have three children," he said. "Laura is 21, Phillip is 12 and William is almost four months."

"That's quite an age range," Stan said.

David smiled, "Susan and I were both widowed. Laura came with her and Phillip with me. William is ours."

"I have two," Stan offered. "Our son is 27 and our daughter is 23. Both of them are out making their own way in the world. We had another son, but he passed away nearly a year ago."

"I'm so sorry to hear that," David sympathized. "What happened if you don't mind me asking?"

"He just got sick and the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. We did finally get a diagnosis, but it was too late," he answered with tears welling up in his eyes.

"I'm so sorry," David said. "My wife's brother was a world renowned diagnostician. He often got the most difficult cases. He was killed the same day our youngest was born. It was very hard on my wife and I worry about how she will handle our son's birthday when the time comes."

Stan nodded in understanding, "It definitely will make the day bittersweet," he paused for a moment, "You're from New Jersey, may I ask who your wife's brother was?"

"Dr. Gregory House," David replied. "He was a remarkable physician, but quite a handful personally. Still though, his loss is a huge detriment to society."

"Your brother-in-law was Dr. House?" Stan repeated in surprise.

"Yes," David confirmed.

"He was the doctor that diagnosed my son," Stan said.

"You visited him in New Jersey?" David asked.

"No, when my son's doctor reached a dead end, he told us that he needed a consultation, but it would be very expensive. Of course we agreed to do it. He contacted Dr. House and gave him the symptoms and everything he had tested. Dr. House said he would get back to him and two days later he called with a suspected diagnosis and a test to confirm. The test came back positive, but as I said, it was too late. There wasn't anything that could be done. If we'd found out earlier, we could have postponed his death, but he could never have been cured. My wife was devastated, but we're both grateful that we got a diagnosis and that his death would not remain a mystery," he paused for a moment, "Come to think of it, we never did get a consultation bill from him."

"I'm not surprised," David said. "For all his show of misanthropic attitude in public, underneath he really did care. It wasn't uncommon for him to manipulate situations to benefit others, but if you called him out on it, he'd throw you some kind of insult and send you packing. He also had a soft spot for kids, but he'd never admit it."

"Well, this has been an interesting conversation," Stan said standing up. He reached out to shake David's hand, "I'd like to meet your wife sometime. Perhaps you two could go to dinner with Pauline and me sometime next week?"

David returned the handshake, "I think we would enjoy that. Have a good evening." David left the office with plenty to think about. He dropped by his office before heading out for the evening. He was off for the rest of the week so he wouldn't need to return to the office until Monday. He remembered that he needed to stop somewhere and get the family something to eat on the way home. It would be probably another full day before Susan could start cooking again. She was trapped at home until they could get another vehicle, so he decided to stop by the grocery store and pick up a few simple things that didn't need to be cooked. He'd pick up some bottled water as well. He remembered Susan saying something about needing to treat the well. He was glad she had experience with everything. He'd spent his entire life in the city and had no clue of country life, but he was looking forward to learning. Already he was enjoying the openness of the country and while he heard several people complain about the traffic today, he wasn't sure what they were referring to because he sure hadn't experienced any so far.

An hour later he had finished running his errands and was heading home. His mind kept going back to his conversation with Stan. How had his CV made its way into his new boss's hands? He always had an updated CV readily available as he often had to submit it with grant applications or when he was asked to speak at various functions, but the fact remained that he hadn't even known of the opening to submit his CV to begin with; then the remarkable coincidence that his new boss had consulted with House indirectly. He was looking forward to discussing his conversation with Susan and he was sure she would want to meet Stan and Pauline. He reached out to turn on the radio and scanned through the stations, then turned it off. _Well, that's one disadvantage to being out here_, he thought to himself. There seemed to be an inordinate number of country stations and he wasn't much of a fan of country music. David settled back and enjoyed the scenery as he drove home. It wasn't anything like the scenery on the eastern side of the country, but it had a beauty of its own. The rolling hills were dotted with various crops and acres of pastureland for cattle. Trees lined the banks of the creeks and surrounded the farm houses as a wind break. The wind did always seem to be blowing. The trees here were a lot shorter than back in New Jersey; he guessed that was because of the drier weather and warmer climate. It wasn't long before he pulled into the property and up to the house. He got out and looked around, Susan was right; there was a lot of work to be done. But he looked forward to it, but mostly looked forward to working on it with Susan. It was their project together and as they worked, it would be more and more their home.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Phillip came running through the path he'd cut earlier and found his dad with the trunk of the car open, "Dad! We have solar power and a tractor with a hog," he said as he came up beside him.

"We have a solar powered tractor and a hog?" David asked.

"No!" Phillip said panting.

"Well, slow down and start over," David said.

"I said, we have solar power and a tractor with a hog," he repeated.

David still looked at him a bit confused, but Laura, who came up carrying the weed eater, clarified it for him, "There is solar power as an alternate power source for the well. And the previous owners left their tractor and brush hog."

"Oh!" David said. "That makes more sense. Too bad though; I was looking forward to seeing the solar powered tractor; not so much the hog though," he said with a grin.

"Da-a-a-d," Phillip said with some exasperation.

David reached in the trunk and handed Phillip several grocery bags, "Take those inside for me son." Phillip took the bags and went inside the house. By that time Susan made it up the path with Billy, "Hey," he said and greeted her with a kiss.

"Hey back," Susan said. "How was your meeting?"

"Interesting, I'll tell you about it later. For now, let's eat," he said. "I'm starved."

Laura put the weed eater on the porch and went inside while David pulled out the sacks with their dinner. He'd stopped by a Mexican restaurant knowing that Susan had really missed her TexMex while living in New Jersey. They went inside together and soon the family was munching on tortillas with salsa and queso, fajitas, cheese enchiladas, salad and plenty of soft drinks and water. After dinner, Susan sat back and sighed, "Wow that was good. I've really missed that," she said.

David smiled at her, "Thought it would be a nice surprise."

"Speaking of surprises, have you looked in the corner?" Susan asked pointing behind the couch.

David turned his head and looked over to the corner where the baby grand was sitting, "When did we get a baby grand?" he asked.

"We didn't," Susan said. "That's Greg's."

"Why is House's baby grand here?" David asked.

"I was hoping you would have the answer to that question, because that's not all," Susan said getting up from the table. "Follow me," she said. David got up and followed her out of the house with Phillip in tow.

Laura stayed in the house with Billy and started to clean up dinner. She turned on the kitchen faucet and let it run until it ran clear and then filled a large pot with water and put it on the stove. She turned the knob which did not light up, "Oh, I forgot. No propane," she said to herself. She put the pot in the sink and added liquid soap and put their flatware in it to soak. Fortunately the plates and everything were all disposable, so she gathered the leftovers and put them in the refrigerator and threw away the trash which got her to wondering how they were going to dispose of their trash. Having cleaned up dinner, she picked up Billy from his bouncy seat where mom had put him during dinner and went over to the guest house.

"I'm telling you, I didn't do this," Susan was defending to David when Laura walked in.

"Then how else did it get here?" David asked.

"The lady at the mover's main office said your signature was the only one on the work order," Susan replied.

"I didn't order for anybody to pick up anything anywhere other than our house," David said. "Is this all his furniture?"

"Everything from the furniture to the artwork is here," Susan said.

"I want to know how it got here," David said.

"I don't have an answer for you," Susan said, "but it seems to me that if I didn't do it and you didn't do it, it was either Blythe or Greg."

"How would Blythe know we were moving? We've never spoken with her," David said.

"If it wasn't her, then the only other possibility is Greg," Susan said.

"What about Dr. Wilson?" Phillip asked.

"I don't think Wilson would do this without talking to us first," Susan answered. "Besides he's not even at home right now. It has to be Greg."

For once David didn't argue with her and just looked around, "I guess we should clean this place up too."

"I need to finish several things at the main house before I tackle this one," Susan said. "Speaking of which, Phillip, go get that unopened gallon of industrial bleach and meet me at the well house."

An hour later, Susan started the well treatment. She circulated bleach through the pressure tank and the well and then turned the water off. She spent some time going through the well house to see what all was there. The previous owner had left a replacement bag of salts and there were two spare water filters. She traded out the filters and replenished the salts. As soon as the bleach had set in the well and plumbing overnight it would be good to go. David had found the user manual for the tractor and was going through it to learn about the care and maintenance. Susan came out of the well house and walked over to him as he was bent over looking at the undersides of the tractor and comparing it to the diagram on the page, "It was good fortune that the previous owner left this here," she said. "I really don't understand it."

"My understanding, according to the realtor, is that she never liked it out here. Her husband was one of those doomsday folks and he had moved the both of them out here against her wishes and started preparing for the apocalypse. He died of a sudden heart attack and within a week, she had packed up the house and moved to the city wanting nothing to do with this place. She left everything she wouldn't need as part of the purchase price."

"So you knew we had a tractor already," Susan said.

"Yes," David said. "And supposedly there are several implements as well."

"Well, there's a front loader attached and the brush hog is over there," Susan said. "She started walking around the pole barn, "and there's an auger over here. That's all I see. We'll probably want to get a box blade and it would be nice to have a tiller attachment, but we can get along with just a push rototiller."

"Did you know that the guest house was a guest house? Because you never mentioned it," Susan asked.

"No, I never bothered to look at it, I just assumed it was an outbuilding," he answered.

"Mom!" Laura hollered from the house. "Somebody's hungry!"

"Well, I've been summoned," she said turning back to the house.

"Hang on a sec, I'm coming with you," David said.

When they got to the house Susan took Billy and sat on the couch to feed him. David brought over a baby blanket and covered her and sat on one side and then Phillip came over and sat down next to her and tickled Billy's feet that were sticking out from under the blanket. Giggles were heard from under the blanket and Billy kicked his feet in response. Susan told Phillip to go to each faucet in the house and turn them on one by one and let them run until he smelled bleach and then to turn them off. He got up to take care of that when Laura asked if it would be OK if she played on House's piano for a while. Susan leaned her head back on the couch and relaxed. Billy finished and David took him from her and held him as they listened to Laura play. Soon Billy had dozed off and David got up to change him and put him in his crib that Susan had set up in their room until he was old enough to quit nursing at night. Afterwards he would move into Phillip's room and the boys would share. He came back in the living room and asked Susan if she would like to go for a walk, "I have something else to show you," he said.

"Will you keep an ear out for Billy and an eye on Phillip?" Susan asked Laura who nodded while she continued her music.

Susan followed David out the door. When they reached the bottom of the steps, he held his hand out and Susan took it. Hand in hand they walked down the path that Phillip had cleared earlier until they reached the small clearing where the pole barn and well house were located. David led Susan around the buildings down a dirt path. At the bottom of the path was a porch swing sitting next to a spring fed creek bed. A small amount of water was flowing and tumbling gently over the rocks as it moved downhill, "I was looking at our property on Google maps and saw this area in the satellite view," David said. "I couldn't tell if it was landscaped or anything, but I could see the creek and I was pretty sure this swing was here."

"I can't believe the spring is running this far into the summer," Susan said. She walked over to the swing and inspected it for spiders and wasp nests and then sat down. David sat down next to her and put his arm over her shoulder.

"What do you think?" he asked.

"I love it," she answered. "This fall I'll start working on it and making it into a nice place to sit and relax of an evening or early morning." She leaned back into his shoulder.

"Susan, I'm so sorry," David said.

"What for?"

"For not believing you," David said. "I do now."

"Because of the furniture?" Susan asked.

"That's only part of it," David said. He went on to explain about his conversation with Stan. Finally after telling her everything he said, "I think during the course of diagnosing his son, House learned about Stan and the university here. Somehow, he either found out about or manipulated the opening here and made sure that my CV made it to Stan. I think we're here because he wanted us, or rather wanted you here," David said.

"Greg likes you David. He told me that when you asked me to marry you," Susan said. "He knows we're a matched set and he approves."

"That means a lot to you," David said.

"Yes it does."

"Do you suppose he picked out this house as well? Am I that predictable?" David said.

"No, I don't think so. I don't even think he manipulated the position, but I do think he found out about it and made sure your CV was seen, but he couldn't know if you would be offered the position or if you would take it or not. Did you see your CV?"

"Yes. It was mine. It was the version I had on my computer at work."

"Greg was an expert at breaking into Princeton's computer system, so he broke in and took your CV, and probably snooped through all your files while he was there, but he didn't change anything. He wanted you to have the chance, but you were offered the position on your own merit. I also think you finding this place was all you," Susan said. "It does work out well though. He'll have a place to stay that he may or may not choose to use, but it'll be there for him if he wants it." They sat quietly for a while then Susan said, "Thank you."

"For what?" David asked.

"For believing me," Susan said. "I could be wrong. He could very well be dead and all of this is just a weird series of coincidences. I could very well be delusional."

David chuckled, "Well if so, you just drug me into your delusion." He bent his head down to kiss the top of her head, "I'd rather be delusional with you than be completely sane without you."

"Sometimes you say the corniest things," Susan said.

"Yeah, well I'm a nerd. I have an excuse," he said. They sat as the evening gave way to the night, "Mrs. James, may I kiss you under the stars?"

"I was kind of hoping you'd do just that," she said softly. "And someday in the not distant future when our privacy is a little more assured, that you do a little more than that under those same stars."

David grinned as he lifted her head towards his, "Sounds good to me," he said softly and kissed her with that gentle passion she so loved and found herself even after a year and a half still marveling that she could be handled with so much loving gentleness. After several minutes they broke apart, "Shall we take this to our bedroom?" David asked standing and holding his hand out. Susan took his hand and they walked back to their house. As they got closer they heard Laura still playing on the piano, but as they stepped up on the porch, they realized that there was more than just piano. They stopped and listened as Laura and Phillip played together. They could hear Laura giving the chord changes to Phillip as he fumbled through the song with her on his guitar. After a while, they heard Phillip complain that he was never going to get it and Laura encourage him. They went through the song again and this time Phillip was able to make the changes faster.

"See?" Laura said, "It just takes practice."

"My fingers are sore, I'm going to stop now," Phillip said getting up and putting his guitar away.

Susan and David took that moment to walk inside never letting on they were listening. They walked through the living room toward their bedroom, "Goodnight Laura," Susan said.

"Goodnight," Laura replied as she watched them pass. She smiled to herself and modulated the piece into a serenade.

Phillip walked back into the room and sat on the chair he'd moved by the piano earlier, "What's that piece? I haven't heard you play it before."

"It's not anything really. I'm just playing in a serenade style. Mom and dad just walked through looking like...well you know. I thought they might enjoy some nice romantic music."

"Ugh, you're such a girl," Phillip said. After a few moments he couldn't stand it anymore, "I thought you didn't want to know when they were...you know."

"I don't, but this is different," Laura said as she played. "They went on a romantic evening stroll together under the stars and..."

"Oh, stop. You're going take me throw up," Phillip said.

"Well that would definitely kill the mood," Laura said. She resolved the last phrase and let the music softly end, then closed the piano and got up.

"Laura?" Laura looked Phillip's direction, "I gotta pee."

"And you're telling me this because...?" Laura asked.

"Mom said the bleach needed to soak in the water lines overnight," Phillip said.

"Well you have a choice, you can either use the toilet and don't flush, or go outside and water a tree. It's not that difficult," she said. "Goodnight."

Phillip watched her walk down the hallway to her room and shut the door. He shrugged his shoulders went outside.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

For the next month, the family continued to clean, repair and work making the small farm their home. All too soon it was time for Laura to leave for her senior year at the university. She still had her scholarship that her uncle had secretly provided for her before mom and David were married. Mom had figured out her benefactor, and when he had gotten out of prison, Susan had gone to him to offer that the scholarship end. When she and David married, her salary became extra income, so they could afford to pay it themselves. Uncle Greg had of course denied even knowing what she was talking about making the answer clear. The scholarship stayed and Laura had done her best to maintain the highest grade point possible even foregoing dating in order to concentrate on her studies. She would be forever grateful to him for this opportunity and resolved to become the best in whatever field she eventually chose to specialize in. She had already taken the MCAT and applied to several medical schools including Princeton Plainsboro. She hadn't heard anything yet, but hoped to start hearing from them soon.

She was just putting the last of her clothes in her suitcase when Phillip walked her room and sat on the bed. "I wish you didn't have leave already. We haven't even had a chance to see where the creek goes yet."

"Yeah I know, but I'll be back at Christmas. You're going to be busy with school before long anyway; you've already been at football practice for over two weeks. We'll explore the creek when I get home if you don't do it alone before then," Laura said.

"I'll wait," Phillip said.

David poked his head in the door, "Are you ready yet? We need leave if we are going get you to the airport on time."

"I'm ready," she said. Phillip picked up her suitcase and took it out to Susan's new SUV. Susan and Billy followed them out of the house. When they got to the car Laura took Billy from Susan, "I'll see you at Christmas little man, don't forget who I am." She buzzed him on the cheek and he giggled in return. She handed him back to Susan. Phillip just stood there not saying anything. Laura looked over at him and then drew him into a hug, "I'll miss you too."

"Sure," he said quietly trying to hide his emotions. The two had grown close over the summer and it was hard to say goodbye.

Finally Laura turned to her mother and wrapped her in a hug. Billy, of course, took advantage of the moment to grab a handful of Laura's hair. Susan laughed as Phillip helped remove her hair from Billy's grip, "Call me when you get there."

"I will mom, I love you."

"I love you too sweetheart," Susan replied. David started up the SUV and Laura got in passenger side and shut the door. David pulled out of the driveway and started the hour long drive to the city and the airport. Susan turned to Phillip, "It's always hard to say goodbye," she said when she saw his eyes slightly moist, "but sooner than you think she'll be back for the holidays." They walked inside house, "You better get your things, or you'll end up late for practice."

Phillip went to his room to get his practice uniform and pads. This was his first time to play football, but he was really enjoying it. His dad had been hesitant to let him play, but Laura had gone to bat for him and talked his dad into letting him play. For the last two weeks she'd been taking him to practice, doctoring his wounds and cheering him on. He decided that having a sister was pretty cool and it was good to have somebody closer to his age to talk to at home. They had explored the property together and found another old goat skull. She even taught him how to drive the tractor, but probably his favorite times were when she would play the piano with him on the guitar. She never laughed at him when he messed up and always had something encouraging to say. He'd grown to love her and now he understood even more how his mom felt about Uncle Greg.

Susan was trying to buckle Billy, who had just graduated to facing forward, in his car seat, "Yes, I know you don't want to be stuck in here," she said as she struggled getting him in place, "but we're taking your brother to practice. You don't have an option."

"I'll sit back here with him mom," Phillip said as he slipped inside and pulled the door shut.

"You have everything?" Susan asked. "Cleats, pads, uniform, helmet?"

"Oh! My helmet," Phillip said and dashed out of the car and into the house. He came back out of the house looking sheepish, but carrying his helmet.

Susan grinned, but didn't say anything. She started car and took off, "Are you enjoying football Phillip?"

"Yeah," he said. "It's a lot of hard work, and the coaches yell a lot, but it's fun. The guys on the team have even given me a nickname."

"Oh?" Susan asked.

"Yeah, it's 'Yankee'", Phillip said.

Susan laughed, "Well that stands to reason. Your thick New Jersey accent stands out like a sore thumb against the western drawl around here." Soon they were pulling into the practice field behind the junior high. "I'm going to run a few errands while you're at practice, but I'll be back in plenty of time before it ends." She popped trunk so could get his equipment out.

"Okay, see you later mom," he said as he trotted off. Suddenly he stopped and turned around, "Mom?" Susan looked his direction, "I love you."

"I love you too," Susan answered. She watched him run off and then pulled out of the parking lot. Fifteen minutes later she was pushing a cart through the grocery store. Billy was strapped in the seat so that he wouldn't fall over. He was learning to sit up on his own, but didn't quite have the balance he needed to stay upright on his own for a long period of time, especially in a moving cart. She had just finished perusing the produce isle and was headed toward the dairy section when she heard her phone signal that she had received a text. She took out her phone and opened the message; _It is with considerable sadness that I inform you as a current or former associate of PPTH that I have received word from his family of the passing of Dr. James Robert Wilson. He was a very valued member of our team and a personal friend. He will be missed. His family has set up a memorial fund to benefit the oncology department where he worked tirelessly to bring comfort and healing to so many of the very condition that took his life. Information regarding his memorial will be posted on the hospital website. Dr. Eric Foreman. _Susan closed her phone and took a deep breath. Billy reached out and put his hand over hers on the cart handle and tapped it up and down a few times as he babbled, "I'm okay bubby," she said. "Mommy's just a little sad." She continued down the aisle when her phone rang.

"Did you get that text?" David asked.

"Yes," Susan said. "Where are you?"

"I'm at the airport. Laura just went through security. Are you OK?" David asked.

"I'm fine. It's never easy, even when you expect it," Susan said. "I'd like to send a donation to the memorial fund if that's ok."

"Of course," David agreed. "I'll be home in about an hour. Does Phillip know?"

"Not yet. He's still at practice. Was Laura with you when you got the text?"

"Yes," David said. "She cried some, but she's okay. She said she is close enough at school that she plans on attending the memorial service. Do you want to go?"

"Yes, but I'm not sure it would be best with Billy. We can talk about it when you get home," Susan said. They ended their conversation and Susan continued her shopping heavy hearted.

At the checkout stand, the cashier was scanning the items when she realized that her customer had a tear running down her cheek, "Ma'am, are you okay?

"Yes, I'm sorry. I just found out that a dear friend passed away, thank you for asking," Susan said.

"No need to apologize; I'm sorry for your loss," the cashier replied. She finished checking out Susan and Susan left to go pick up Phillip from practice.

...

Two days later, Susan was sitting at her kitchen table with her laptop in front of her watching the memorial proceedings via Skype. Dr. Foreman had asked her if she would speak at the service in lieu of House. He set up the video system for her knowing it would be difficult for her to make the trip on such short notice and traveling with the baby since he was still nursing full time. Susan had thought long and hard about what she would say, but finally came up with something she thought her brother would approve.

After several others spoke, it was finally Susan's turn. The screen switched so that she could see the crowd in her screen and they could see her in the monitor, _"As you all know, several months ago my brother was caught in a burning building in the old warehouse district in town. While we aren't entirely sure of what led him there, we do know that he was trying to escape the building when it exploded. We know this because Wilson saw him through the door just before the explosion. Wilson met my brother at a medical conference over 20 years ago when my brother bailed him out of jail. Since that time Wilson was there for my brother, through his injury, his pain, through withdrawal and … jail._

Several snickers were heard from the crowd, but Susan kept going.

_My brother was there for Wilson when his girlfriend died and Wilson was there for him when his dad died. When my brother needed psychiatric help, Wilson was there to make sure he got what he needed. When Wilson needed a friend when he donated his liver, House was there. When my brother needed him after his relationship failed, Wilson was there and he was still there after my brother spent a year in prison. Wilson was diagnosed with cancer and tried radical chemotherapy, my brother helped him through it. At the end, Wilson was there again, waiting for my brother outside the building. The point is that Wilson was the best friend my brother could have had and my brother was the best friend he could have had. They weathered many storms together; they fought, they argued, they punched each other, my brother even broke Wilson's arm. But they also went bowling together, shared living space for a time, they played poker weekly, played practical jokes on each other, and they often shared meals. While they were not biologically tied, they were in every sense of the word, brothers._

_If House were here today, he would say of his friend; well actually he wouldn't say anything. He would tell us we were all idiots or morons for even being here; that it didn't mean anything, and if Wilson could hear him say it, he'd just grin and they'd go off and have a beer."_

Susan could hear the congregation murmur and heard quite a few snickers in agreement with her statement. She waited for the room to quiet back down and continued.

"_As for me, I met Wilson just a few short years ago. He was an excellent supervisor for me when I worked on House's team and subsequently became a very good friend. I will miss him."_

"_Thank you."_

The screen switched back to face the podium and Dr. Foreman concluded the memorial service. Susan sat back until the service ended then shut down the computer and walked outside to sit on the porch. Now that she was finished speaking, she allowed her emotions to surface. David, who'd been sitting in quiet support in the living room with the boys, followed her outside leaving Phillip to tend William. He sat down next to her and put his arm over his shoulder, "That was very nice, Susan. I'm sure his family was very appreciative." Susan didn't say anything and just leaned back into the comfort that was her husband.

They sat silently for about fifteen minutes when Phillip came out with Billy, "Mom?"

Susan looked at Phillip and saw that Billy had decided that he'd been away from her more than long enough and wanted his mother. Susan smiled and reached for her youngest. Phillip came over and sat on the bench on the other side of Susan, "Now this is perfect," Susan said.

"What is?" David asked.

"What more could a woman want than being surrounded by her three favorite boys?" Susan said.

David smiled and kissed the top of her head, then looked toward the road at the sound of a lone motorcycle traveling toward them, "Maybe the sight of her brother coming home."

The motorcycle slowed as it made the turn into their drive and came to a stop just behind their cars. House got off the motorcycle and removed his helmet, setting it on the seat. He looked toward the family who was getting up off of the park bench. Susan handed Billy to David and came down the steps of the porch. House took a hesitant few steps toward her and stopped, not fully sure of how he would be received. When Susan reached him she took both his hands in hers and looked up. Two sets of intensely blue eyes looked at each other, both glistening with unfallen tears, "Welcome home," Susan said with a catch in her throat as she fought the emotion. "Welcome home."


End file.
